Salthill slump

Date Published: 25-Sep-2007

IT MIGHT have lacked the lustre of the drawn encounter — familiarity and the hue of Winter saw to that — but when it came to old fashioned John Wayne style ‘True Grit’, Killererin were untouchable at Tuam Stadium on Sunday evening.

Killererin do have something of a championship hex on Salthill — the results always seem to go ‘the one way’ — and over the 68 minutes or so which this game ran, there was little indication of any change in that pattern.

The drawn match was a classic in its own right, with some flowing moves and dramatic oscillations of fortune — this time around it was dour and littered with mistakes, but yet through those tough times, Killererin never lost sight of their overall goal.

If Killererin get even a ‘half scent’ of victory, they are very hard to prevent from getting in for the kill. With the stiff wind at their backs playing into the town goal, they went four points up after the first 10 minutes, and Killererin are just about the meanest around when it comes to surrendering leads.

For all that Killererin self-belief and dogged determination, Salthill-Knocknacarra will be desperately disappointed with their overall performance. This time around, they had no Frank Doherty on the line, but it was the issue of on-field leadership which cost them most dearly.

They really had no generals like Tommie or Padraic Joyce to tack their sails into the wind — the fact that it took them the bones of 40 minutes to land their first score of the match, tells its own sorry tale for them.

Killererin were quite devastating in that first 10 minutes of action. Padraic Joyce won a ball under the tricolour in that corner of Tuam Stadium that he loves so well before curling a shot over the bar after 50 seconds.

Less than three minutes later…..