Killanin men floored by conceding early second half goals

St. Croan’s 2-10

Killanin 0-11

KILLANIN’S hopes of winning a sixth provincial club football title for Galway at intermediate level were dashed when they fell at the final hurdle in the Connacht Championship decider against St. Croan’s (Roscommon) last Sunday at Tuam Stadium.

Despite playing their hearts out from start to finish, they narrowly failed to secure provincial silverware which would have crowned a wonderful season. In front of a huge crowd, the Galway champions were well in contention until they conceded two second half goals in a six minute spell.

That formidable double blow proved too much to claw back and St. Croan’s were worthy winners in the end. After an evenly balanced opening period the sides were tied on 0-6 each and the stage was set for another exciting half-hour between two teams that matched each other kick for kick and score for score up to that.

It was 8/7 in Killanin’s favour when the first goal arrived, courtesy of Shane Smyth and when James Connaughton side-footed a second ‘major’ six minutes later it put the Roscommon champions into the driving seat. Try as they might, Killanin just could not make any real dent in the lead despite a huge physical effort and to make matters worse they were reduced to 14 men near the end when corner-forward Niall Walsh, one of their better players, was red-carded on the word of a linesman after getting entangled with an opponent.

Big Kevin Walsh was sent into the fray late on to try to provide some inspiration but after he moved into the full-forward position he was starved of possession and he had to be replaced after limping off with a leg injury. In fairness they lost to a fine team which had a huge win over Ballyhaunis in the semi-final and now meet John Mitchel’s, (Liverpool) next time out. It has, nevertheless, been a great year for Killanin.

A memorable victory over neighbours Moycullen in the county final and promotion to senior football have both been achieved with some style and although they may be down at the moment, they can now take a well earned break and prepare for next year on their own terms. By avoiding the long winter slog that would surely drain their energy, Killanin will be fresh and ready for action when they start next year as a senior club.

They were more than a match for their Ballymoe-Ballintubber opponents in the first half and they had edged into a narrow lead early in the second, only to be undone by those two goals. St. Croan’s had gone close to a sensational start and they might well have netted within seconds of the throw-in. Midfielder Ross Timothy raced away and got clean through the defence, but his shot was brilliantly smothered by Killanin goalkeeper Shane Sheridan.

Wing-back Daniel Malone did give Croan’s the lead with a point shortly afterwards but Cathal Sweeney soon levelled with a superb score and further points by Jonathan Heaney and Patrick Sweeney, following a great run by Ruairi Greene, made it 0-3 to 0-1. Niall Walsh also scored but Michael Holland and Shane Smyth (2) made it level pegging in a fine, sporting contest that was giving great entertainment to the 3,000 crowd.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.