Grandstand finish as Castlegar men shade the verdict

Castlegar  1-17

Craughwell  1-14

Dara Bradley in Athenry

 IN injury time, both sides experienced what it felt like to win and lose this absorbing group C contest. Craughwell’s joy was only fleeting, though. They hit the front for the first time ever over the hour with a sweet point in the second minute of injury time.

They celebrated as if it was the winner. It looked like the winner. It wasn’t the winner. More drama was to come. Castlegar, having looked dead and buried after Mike Coughlan’s ‘winner’, didn’t dwell on the disappointment and, instead, summoned up immense character to pull it out of the fire, scoring 1-1 in the blink of an eye to break Craughwell hearts.

Wing-forward Dean Higgins was credited with scoring the goal but it was centre-back Kevin Keane – who played a blinder for most of the match – who created it with a dogged determination to emerge from a ruck and clear it towards Enda Concannon, who in turn supplied Higgins.

Craughwell had the numbers back in defence to deal with the threat but they had a momentary lapse in concentration, perhaps still celebrating the ‘win’. Wing-back Donal McGreal put the icing on it seconds later with an insurance score as Castlegar triumphed with three points to spare.

It was fitting that two members of the impervious half-back line, Keane and McGreal, played such a big part in Castlegar’s winning scores because it was that pair and wing-back Tomas Mannion, until he was substituted with injury early in the second half, who really laid the foundation to this surprise victory.

The half-back line for Castlegar hurled their hearts out and it was their honesty of effort, high intensity tackling, and superior work-rate for hooking and blocking that filtered down throughout the team as the city outfit set out their stall early. That trio was key to Castlegar getting the upper hand in the possession stakes for puck-outs, too.

Full-back Pa Connell, centre-forward Enda Concannon and full-forward Ronan O’Flynn also stood out for the winners while losing their two nippy corner-forwards to injury, Jason O’Gorman and Kevin Brady, was a blow to Castlegar, who stayed the course despite the setback.

Former county star Ger Farragher from midfield was another who deserves singling out – his seven points haul, that included a couple of beauties one from a sideline and one from play from distance, was almost as vital to the win as his leadership qualities.

Castlegar, like caged animals, tore into Craughwell as soon as the ball was thrown in and they thoroughly deserved to be six points ahead at the break 0-10 to 0-4; indeed they could have been further in front. Craughwell were flat in the opening half and were too reliant on Niall Healy, who returned from a lengthy injury absence to score eight points, despite being singled out for a bit of ‘special’ treatment from the Cashel backs, who were keen to welcome him back.

Castlegar were more fluid in the opening quarter and established a 0-5 to 0-3 advantage with scores from O’Gorman, Brady, Concannon, Dean Higgins and Farragher (’65), against three Niall Healy points (one free). Castlegar then doubled their scores over the next quarter, outscoring their opponents by 0-5 to 0-1, as their greater urgency became the dominant feature of the first half exchanges.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.