Inside Track
Sarsfields must be wary of threat posed by Glens men
Inside Track with John McIntyre
ATHENRY, Glenmore, Mount Sion, Na Piarsaigh, Portumna, Crumlin (Dublin), Patrickswell and Moycarkey Borris of Tipperary have one thing in common . . . they all lost All-Ireland Club hurling semi-finals to Antrim teams. Some serious sides have fallen by the wayside at the penultimate stage of the championship and it would be doing a huge injustice to our counterparts from the Glens to suggest complacency was the big factor in those results.
Furthermore, it took St. Thomas’ two attempts to overcome Loughgiel Shamrocks in the semi-final in February of 2013, while Sarsfields also had to resort to a replay to get the better of Dunloy in the spring of 1998. In most of those semi-finals when the Antrim champions came out on top, they deserved to carry the day and one suspects their latest title holders Cushendall will be lacking nothing in terms of effort and passion on Saturday.
That prospect, however, has probably less to do with upholding the county’s tradition of springing surprises in All-Ireland semi-finals, but rather Cushendall’s own desire to end reach a first ever final having lost all their previous eight appearances at this stage of the championship. The closest Cushendall have got to making Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day was when they lost a replay to St. Joseph’s of Clare in 2000. Three years earlier, Cushendall came within a point of another Banner team, Wolfe Tones.
But how good are the club’s latest standard bearers? It took a late goal from Conor Carson to edge out Ballycastle in the county final, but Cushendall had been trailing by nine points with only 13 minutes remaining. They also diced with disaster in the provincial decider the following month when edging out Slaughneil of Derry by a point after extra time (1-24 to 3-17) with the accuracy of Antrim player Neil McManus critical to the outcome.
That overall level of form suggests Cushendall may be nothing exceptional, but new Galway champions Sarsfields must still on their guard, especially as Saturday’s semi-final is going ahead in Pairic Tailteann, Navan, a venue with which they would have no familiarity with. The New Inn/Bullaun men were obviously the surprise packets of last year’s county championship, ensuring this is still a relatively inexperienced team.
Yet the manner in which Sarsfields turned themselves inside out in the knock out stages of the title race compared to the club’s final two group outings – a really fortunate win over Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry and that heavy loss to Loughrea – was nothing short of remarkable. Pearses, their quarter-final opponents, were actually marginal favourites to beat them, but Sarsfields hit the ground running with Noel Kelly proving a big handful up front.
That ultimately comfortable victory hardly suggested that they were county title winning material and when they got off to a bad start against holders Gort in the subsequent semi-final, it was difficult to avoid the impression that Sarsfields were in over their heads. But the challengers initially displayed tremendous grit to haul themselves back into contention before finishing in a blaze of glory to carry the day on a 0-21 to 0-17 scoreline.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
SOMETHING very odd happened to Tyrone in the Ulster championship in early April. On their home turf of Healy Park, they were doing nearly everything expected of them when leading Monaghan by five points at half-time. You couldn’t say for definite that the match was done and dusted, but the 2021 All-Ireland champions were in pole position.
You would have expected them to drive on against an honest if limited Monaghan outfit. Instead, Tyrone didn’t score for the opening 16 minutes of the second-half and in an enthralling finale, were left stunned by defender Ryan’s Toole’s stoppage-time goal snatching the honours for the Farney men on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline.
A couple of weeks later, Monaghan themselves had exited the Ulster title race when Derry comfortably got the better of them (1-21 to 2-10), leaving us more puzzled than ever by Tyrone’s dramatic decline since overcoming Mayo to claim Sam barely 20 months previously. Last year, they crashed out of Ulster by 11 points to Derry and subsequently came up six short against Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Against that background, their recent loss to Monaghan shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Tyrone may have made a shambolic defence of the All-Ireland title, but there is still a lot of quality in their ranks. They have an adventurous ‘keeper in Niall Morgan, while the long-serving Peter Harte, Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry, Cathal McShane, Conor Meyler, Mattie Donnelly, and Conn Kilpatrick are all top-class performers when in the mood.
There’s hardly been a word about them for the past six weeks. Tyrone are lying low, desperately trying to rediscover the verve and cohesion which took them all the way in 2021. Their pride is on the line. It makes them dangerous opponents for Galway in the opening round of All-Ireland group matches at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
GALWAY footballers won’t get much credit for their easy victory over Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht Final in Castlebar, but when a team achieves something that hasn’t been done for 20 years, perhaps we should be a little more appreciative of the Tribesmen retaining the JJ Nestor Cup for the first time in two decades.
To be honest, if Galway were to live up to their standing as serious All-Ireland contenders, they needed to be doing a number on Sligo. In this year’s National League, the counties were three divisions apart and though Tony McEntee’s team achieved promotion and were on a nine-match unbeaten run, a serious rise in class faced them at MacHale Park.
Granted, Sligo made a bright start with three points in the opening five minutes from Pat Spillane, Sean Carrabine and the accurate Darragh Cummins, but they would only manage two more by the break despite having the wind behind them. Though wing back Luke Towey was catching the eye with his runs up-field, Galway rarely looked under pressure.
Sligo were bravely committing numbers to the middle third, which meant they were a little light in numbers around their own posts. They couldn’t afford to lose possession coming out of their own half, but that’s what happened in the build up to Galway’s second goal. Damien Comer overturned Cian Lally and from his counter-attack, Matthew Tierney expertly finished to the net at the near post.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IS the Leinster hurling championship something of a sham compared to its Munster counterpart? Everybody knows who will end up in the provincial final in the east, but nobody knows the two teams who will feature in the ultimate battle for supremacy down south.
All-Ireland champions Limerick aren’t guaranteed to even make it out of the province, never mind reach the Munster final, after their narrow loss to Clare in Saturday evening’s epic at the Gaelic Grounds. Everything is still on the line for the five counties involved, although Waterford are again under serious pressure after losing their opening two matches.
In Leinster, there is little of that drama. Galway and Kilkenny are miles ahead of the rest; the only thing at stake is whether Dublin or Wexford – they meet in Croke Park on Saturday – will be the third team to emerge for the All-Ireland series. It’s a game which is hard to call. Wexford are going backwards while Dublin look callow as Micheál Donoghue is trying to build the nucleus of a new team.
Though Antrim are improving – they held the Dubs to a draw and only lost to Wexford by four points – the men from the Glens would be out of their depth in Munster; while Westmeath are proving cannon-fodder for everyone else. Since Galway headed east in 2009, they have clashed with Kilkenny in seven Leinster finals and another showdown is inevitable next month.
In contrast, every match in Munster is virtually do-or die. When Clare rolled into Limerick last Saturday, they knew another defeat after losing to Tipperary in the opening round would leave them on the precipice of exiting the championship. There’s a real dog-eat-dog appeal about all the games. In Leinster, there are two big hounds, and the rest are chihuahuas.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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