Barna are pipped at the post as de Paor hits injury time winner

An Cheathrú Rua 0-12 Barna 0-11

Noel Carney at Pearse Stadium

THE second leg of Saturday evening’s double header in the sweltering heat of Pearse Stadium produced a better contest than the first game as the issue was in doubt right to the end with the advantage swinging to and fro throughout before Ciarán de Paor nailed a real pressure injury time free.

This was certainly a game where a draw would have been fair result and while An Cheathru Rua are to be commended for their forceful resilience that enabled them to get over the finishing line in a thrilling finale, it was cruel luck on Barna who played their hearts out from start to finish. They are still alive and kicking, however, and will present problems for whichever team they meet next in the qualifiers.

Barna got a dream start and were 0-3 to 0-0 ahead with little more than ten minutes gone. Corner-back Shaun Durkan sent them on their way with an early point, Ray Conneely made it 2-0 and they got an unlikely third when a monster of a kick by midfielder Donal Feeney landed in the goalmouth, hopped on the hard ground and bounced over the bar.

An Cheathru Rua meanwhile had still not opened their account and had missed a couple of good opportunities to do so, but they finally got going when towering midfielder Micheal Ó Briain powered his way through the defence and laid off to wing-back Ciaran Ó Loideain who popped one between the uprights.

Within four minutes, they were on level terms. Ciarán de Paor, who was to play a key role in the outcome of this match, converted a free as the game entered its second quarter and a patient build-up then resulted in Ciarán Ó Loideain slotting over his second point of the game and suddenly it was 0-3 each after each team had enjoyed spells of dominance.

Back came Barna with all guns blazing and a free by DD Flaherty regained the lead for them before the lively Kieran Hanley, showing tremendous speed, tore in from the right wing outstripping the defenders and fisted over another score. He may have been tempted to go for a goal but, in fairness to him, the angle was tight and he had stretched the lead to two, 0-5 to 0-3.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.