Turloughmore minors finish in a blaze of glory

Turloughmore 2-17

Loughrea 2-7

TURLOUGHMORE, for the only the second time in the club’s history, completed a two-in-a-row of Minor A county hurling titles at Kenny Park, Athenry on Sunday when defeating Loughrea in the Pier Head sponsored finale. While the scoreline suggests otherwise, this was a highly competitive encounter in which Turloughmore only pulled clear in the closing quarter.

The victors, who started with 13 of the side who won the Féile U14 title in 2010, were never behind at any stage but did come under severe pressure in the second quarter. Loughrea, though, failed to put the scores on the board in that spell and although corner forward Martin McManus bagged the game’s first goal on the stroke of half time, Turlough’s clinical finishing meant they still held a two-point lead at the interval.

The tense exchanges continued after the break, and arguably the contest’s defining moment for Loughrea arrived on 39 minutes when, four adrift, McManus darted clear once more and rifled a shot across Mark Fahy in the Turloughmore goal, but the crossbar denied the Loughrea forward on this occasion.

From that moment on, Turloughmore’s half back line of Jamie Holland, Seán Loftus in particular, and Ultan Hurney were almost impassable and the winners restricted Loughrea to just three scores in the closing 20 minutes. Loftus deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award for his efforts, as the star performance in a backline which conceded just five scores from play, and substitute Barry Callanan’s late brace of goals sealed Turloughmore’s seventh title at this grade.

Unfortunately for Loughrea, they will no doubt have regrets over the number of wides (nine) accumulated in the first half. They had legitimate claims to be aggrieved that a 19th minute effort by Shane O’Brien was waved wide when it looked inside the left post, but on the whole they were far too wasteful on a day when Turloughmore’s Richard Doyle typified his side’s clinical shooting, registering five points, three from play, in a sparkling midfield display.

An overcast morning in Athenry gave way to a glorious September afternoon for hurling, with little by way of wind to affect either side on a pristine surface. Turloughmore were pre-match favourites given their pedigree and a comprehensive group victory over Loughrea, but Leo Keary’s side had shown marked improvement to overcome Castlegar and Kilnadeema/Leitrim en route to the final.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.