Liam Mellows come up well short in first round defeat

Loughrea 1-13Liam Mellows 0-9

John McIntyre in Gort

LOUGHREA, the team which has little difficulty in reaching county finals but, frustratingly, has a major difficulty in winning them, served notice that they are intent on another long haul in the title race when emphatically dismissing Liam Mellows on Saturday evening.

In the first senior championship game to be played in Gort in over 50 years, both clubs didn’t allow the unfamiliar but well presented venue to impact on the competitiveness of this first round clash, at least initially, until the greater firepower and experience of last year’s finalists gradually underlined the gulf in quality between the teams.

The city men, with three minors in their starting line up, were particularly lively in the opening quarter and though they eventually trailed by 1-6 to 0-3 at the interval, it was far from a lost cause with wind advantage to come. Unfortunately, for Mellows, they never remotely threatened a successful comeback on the resumption.

A lack of penetration up front together with the failure of their high profile players, David Collins, John Lee, Tadhg Haran and Aonghus Callanan to have a sustained influence on the action didn’t help the team’s cause nor did a long scoring drought which extended to over 20 minutes.

Furthermore, they only managed four points from play over the hour despite having numerous chances, with corner forward Conor Hynes’ radar particularly malfunctioning, as Mellows ended up with 11 wides and no great prospects of a protracted championship campaign either.

To be honest, opponents Loughrea were much more vibrant than the small crowd probably anticipated. Despite a sixth county final defeat over the past decade last November, their resolve and commitment remains unflinching. Some of their old soldiers, like Damien McClearn and Gavin Keary looked as keen as ever, while Johnny Maher remains a handful on the edge of the square.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.