Vital group wins for Ahascragh and Moycullen in inter title race

By Niall Canavan

THE concluding two games in the intermediate hurling championship group stages were played last Saturday. At Pearse Stadium, Moycullen defeated Abbeyknockmoy while Ahascragh-Fohenagh and Kinvara played out a draw in Loughrea.

Moycullen ensured their quarter-final place by virtue of a 2-21 to 0-12 victory over Abbeyknockmoy. They led by 1-10 to 0-12 13 minutes into the second half before taking command and hitting an unanswered 1-11 to record a 15 point victory. A Niall Mannion goal from a penalty, three minutes from the interval, saw Moycullen lead by 1-7 to 0-8 at half time. Their second goal, in the final quarter, was scored by Gary Bohan.

The aforementioned Mannion finished the game with a tally of 1-8, while their other goalscorer Bohan, also registered a point. The other Moycullen scorers were Eanna Noone, who scored 0-3, including a delightful effort from a sideline cut while Seamus Conneely, Pat Lydon, Vinny Faherty, Conor Bohan, Mark Lydon and Dan Kelly were also on target.

Abbeyknockmoy relied on Paul Flaherty for the bulk of their scores – he landed eight points in total from both play and the placed ball. Their other points came through Brian Flaherty (2), Damien Rooney and Danny Mullins.

The clash between Ahascragh/Fohenagh and Kinvara ended in stalemate. The Ahascragh-Fohenagh goal was scored by Cathal Mannion with the final score reading, 1-12 to 0-15. This was a significant result for Ahascragh-Fohenagh as the draw secured was enough to edge them past Killimor in the group standings and thus see them qualify for the quarter-finals ahead of the latter.

Stephen Smyth ended with 0-5 to his name for Ahascragh-Fohenagh while aside from his goal, Cathal Mannion scored three points. Padraig Mannion hit a brace of scores with their other points coming through Darren Smyth and Ronan Kelly.

Conor Whelan scored the majority of the Kinvara scores. He notched 11 of his team’s points, six of which came from play. Substitute Conor Kavanagh scored twice after his introduction with their other points coming via Shane Byrne and Shane Kavanagh. Kinvara were forced to line out without county goalkeeper Colm Callanan.

As a result of last weekend’s games, the quarter-final draw for the intermediate championship is as follows: Kinvara v Meelick-Eyrecourt, Moycullen v Kilconieron, Abbeyknockmoy v Rahoon-Newcastle and Ahascragh-Fohenagh v Ballindereen. These games are scheduled to be played this weekend.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.