Liam Mellows caught at the post in high quality clash

Date Published: {J}

John McIntyre

SUBSTITUTE Tony Clarke bailed Mullagh out of serious trouble with a late opportunist goal earning last year’s semi-finalists a share of the spoils in this exciting senior hurling championship clash at Kenny Park, Athenry, on Saturday evening.

Mullagh even had an injury time chance to snatch victory but Niall Cahalan’s effort from a disputed 65 tailed wide of Paddy Gannon’s left hand post, leaving the pacesetters Liam Mellows to breath a huge sigh of relief having appeared the likely winners for much of the game.

The city men were in pole position at the interval, leading by 2-5 to 0-6 at the interval having faced the elements, and with only nine minutes remaining Mellows were still holding that five points advantage only for a wasteful if never-say-die Mullagh to pull the game out of the fire.The last time Padraig Donohue’s charges were in Kenny Park, they suffered an agonising one point semi-final defeat to Loughrea in controversial circumstances and with the fall-out of that match going all the way to the High Court, it was hardly surprising that Mullagh weren’t at the pitch of the match for long periods.

It is to their credit, however, that they managed to earn a draw in the circumstances, with the introduction of Clarke and Alan Whyte providing badly needed impetus to the attack, with the switch of Cathal Dervan to full forward also helping to unnerve the Mellows rearguard late on.

Given that they shot 13 wides and also spurned a couple of goal chances, Mullagh will argue that the draw was the least they deserved, but when a team is three points behind with time running out, they should be grateful for small mercies. In any event, Mullagh have the capacity to build on this result.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.