Late scores deny An Spidéal an unlikely hurling crown

Calry/St Joseph’s (Sligo) 2-12

An Spidéal 2-10

An Spidéal fell just short of becoming unlikely Connacht Junior Hurling champions as they lost out to two late points from Calry/St Jospeh’s of Sligo in Ballyhaunis.

With time running out, scores from Eolan McCarthy and Conor Griffin gave Calry/St Joseph’s their second provincial title in as many years, and their third since 2009.

Similar to their county final victory against Ballygar the previous week, An Spidéal recovered from a slow start to get back into the contest, but the Connemara side struggled to turn their effort into scores on the board, particularly from play.

Coming up against a Calry/St Joseph’s side that has won seven Sligo Senior Hurling Championships in the last nine years – including the last five on the trot – it looked like An Spidéal might be in for a tough afternoon, but they put in another strong performance. In fact, the Galway side might feel they left the game behind them after squandering three decent goal chances early in the second-half.

It was also hugely significant that within two minutes of both An Spidéal goals, they allowed Calry/St Joseph’s to raise green flags of their own, thereby killing any momentum the Gaeltacht men had worked so hard to create. In the end, it was this lack of a clinical edge, both in attack and in defence, which cost An Spidéal.

Despite playing with a slight wind advantage in the first half, An Spidéal found themselves 0-3 to 0-0 down after six minutes. Two points from Conor Griffin, and another from Kevin Gilmartin, giving Calry/St Joseph’s an early cushion.

By the 10th minutes, this had been wiped out thanks to two frees from An Spidéal’s captain, Fergal Ó Mainín, separated by a point from Cillín Ó hEochaidh, who finished off a neat move involving Fiontán Ó Cuanaigh and Liam Ó Conghaile on the left wing.

After Damien Burke, a late addition to the Calry/St Joseph’s line-up, put his side ahead midway through the opening half, both sides traded scores until, after 28 minutes, the Sligo champions lead by one, 0-7 to 0-5.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.