Loughrea mount late rally to stay top of group C

Castlegar 2-13

Loughrea 2-13

The mental strength and determination which has defined Loughrea teams for the best part of a decade surfaced again at Athenry on Sunday evening when the town side staged a late rally to salvage a point and keep the top of Group C of the senior hurling championship wide open.

Trailing by four points with as many minutes to go, Loughrea produced a storming finish to this slow-burning tie to hit 1-1 and snatch a deserved share of the spoils.

They had failed to make the most of wind advantage for most of the second-half and looked to be on their way to a first championship defeat of 2013 until county man Johnny Coen took off on a strong run and fed young Neil Keary, who produced a sublime shot to the net to leave just a point between the sides.

Committed wing-back Sean Sweeney then seemed to blow their chances when he miscued an extremely difficult free from inside his own half, but the sublime Keary then won an injury-time free which was expertly slotted between the posts by Johnny Maher.

Loughrea could even have snatched a dramatic late victory, but Maher’s final effort from inside his own half fell wide of the target as underdogs Castlegar held on for a share of the spoils.

It took quite a while for this tie to explode into life and Castlegar looked to be in trouble themselves in the opening 20 minutes or so, as they failed to make the most of the breeze while showing an over-reliance on the heroics of midfielder Ger Farragher for scores.

Farragher proved to be the outstanding talent on show throughout the opening period and had registered all six of the city side’s tally, including two points from play and a sublime sideline cut, by the 23rd minute.

Loughrea looked to have the better attacking options at that stage, with both Coen and Keary finding the target with efforts from play within three minutes of the throw-in.

The excellent Keary, who hit 1-5 over the hour, had his second on the board by the ninth minute before Loughrea attacker Jamie Ryan – set up by centre-back Brian Mahony – fired home the game’s opening goal from close range on 10 minutes.

Mahony fired over a brilliant point from half-way and Niall Keary landed his third of the evening before a Johnny Maher free and a well-worked effort from Coen gave the town team a 1-7 to 0-5 lead.

Despite a wonderful sideline cut from Farragher, Castlegar were lacking in attacking inspiration at this stage and there must have been a collective sigh of relief on their bench when Dean Higgins became the first of their forwards to score after 25 minutes.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.