Castlegar come alive to sweep Sarsfields aside at Kenny Park

Castlegar 4-18Sarsfields 2-14

Alan Dooley in Athenry

A truly spectacular second half performance from Castlegar saw them turn a seven-point half time deficit into a resounding ten-point margin of victory over a shellshocked Sarsfields side whose challenge capitulated in the closing stages of Sunday’s Galway senior hurling championship first round tie at Kenny Park, Athenry.

This was the sort of rip-roaring tie the County Board had envisaged when introducing the group qualifier stages last year, one packed with skill, intensity, and honesty of effort from both sides. To score 3-13 in one game would be a fine accomplishment for most teams; Castlegar managed that particular feat in the second half alone.

The eventual winners had found themselves in an uncomfortable position, though, when Sarsfields’ Noel Kelly struck for a goal with the last puck of an even first half in which the free-taking prowess of Kerrill Wade kept Sarsfields to the fore. Ger Farragher’s crisp ball-striking into a stiff wind kept Castlegar in touch, but Kelly’s goal seemed to have left them with a tough assignment.

Earlier, Enda Concannon had struck a goal in the fourth minute for Castlegar’s first score, but by the quarter hour mark when Eamon Cleary lofted over the bar from long range, Sarsfields had edged into a 0-7 to 1-1 lead. Wade and Joseph Cooney, who had two points to his name by that stage, were leading the line well, while Padraig O’Flynn led the Castlegar resistance from left corner back.

When Sarsfields’ Kieran Kelly blocked a 16th minute Farragher penalty, the omens looked poor for the city men, but Farragher swiftly got back in the groove with a wonderful curling sideline cut from under the stand. It was then tit-for-tat until the closing three minutes of the half as Dean Higgins and Jason O’Gorman grabbed points from play for Cashel while Wade tapped over the frees and Cooney grabbed another from the ’40 for the favourites.

From well inside his own half, Wade converted a free on the cusp of the break before his next effort from even further out dropped just short and Noel Kelly was lurking to pounce on the edge of the square.

Undaunted, Castlegar tore into their challenge with gusto in the opening minute of the second half and were amazingly back within three by the time that 60 seconds had elapsed.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.