Late Flaherty goal secures last-gasp win for Abbey

Abbeyknockmoy 1-15

Beagh 1-14

Beagh players and management will have departed Athenry on Sunday evening on their journey south with a sense of regret. What could have been probably should have been, as the club from the Clare border were beaten by a late, late goal.

Wins secured at the last gasp are thrilling for those teams on the right side of it, gut-wrenching if you’re the club on the opposite of the coin, and Sunday’s meeting of Beagh and Abbeyknockmoy was a perfect case in point. Abbey were the beneficiaries of such a scenario, and Brian Flaherty was the man who provided the moment of inspiration.

It wasn’t a thunderbolt of a goal, but one borne out of persistence and a gambling run forward from the wing-back. Flaherty made a number of key plays in the final quarter, always the mark of a big-game player, but the winning goal was preventable from a Beagh standpoint.

Abbeyknockmoy midfielder Damien Rooney worked himself to the bone for 62 minutes, and when he fired a shot which landed into the Beagh square, goalkeeper Kevin O’Grady could only parry his clearance into the path of the onrushing Flaherty.

It was a crushing blow for Beagh, the final score of an entertaining second half. Referee Paul Fahy allowed Beagh a chance to rescue a share of the spoils in the minute and a half that there followed, but it was to no avail.

The victory leapfrogs Abbeyknockmoy above Beagh in the Group B standings of the Senior B Championship. If Abbey can defeat Kiltormer in the final round of fixtures, then they can still make the preliminary quarter-finals.

For 24 minutes of the second period, it seemed as if John Moylan’s goal was going to be the buffer which Abbeyknockmoy couldn’t break through. In the 38th minute, Adrian Tuohy combined with Joe Gantley to put Moylan through. The full-forward’s scooped shot slipped under the body of Ronan Cooley, giving Beagh a 1-9 to 0-9 cushion.

Abbeyknockmoy would eventually reel them in, but there was never anything much to choose between the two teams. Abbey finished each half leading by a single score. While the last quarter of the game reached an exciting crescendo, the opening half could be best described as uneventful.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.