No shame in final loss

Kilnadeema/Leitrim 1-9

 (aet, 1-8 each after 60 minutes)

A gritty and determined Kilnadeema/Leitrim side had no shame in losing to a better team when they were only brushed aside in the dying minutes of extra time by Kilkenny champions Rower Instioge in the All-Ireland Intermediate hurling Final on Saturday night.

Spirit and passion kept the Galway champions in this contest a lot longer than they should have been, perhaps, given that their forwards had to live off mere scraps of possession, before a side with plenty of strength in depth finally put paid to their dreams of glory with a late scoring blitz.

Kilnadeema/Leitrim were still very much in with a shout when exciting teenage attacker Brian Molloy blasted a short range free into a thicket of players with 78 minutes on the clock, the decisive block coming from rival goalkeeper Liam Tierney.

Had that gone in, young Molloy would have levelled the contest and asked some probing questions of the Kilkenny champions with two minutes to go as Rower Inistioge had made hard work of seeing off their determined challenge all night under the Croke Park floodlights.

Instead, Tierney whisked the ball up the field for substitutes Paul Sheehan and James Cassin, and centre forward David Lyng (two) to post four points in barely two minutes to finally seal a hard-fought victory for the men in green and red.

Both Sheehan and Cassin were sprung from the bench to make massive contributions to an under-firing Rower Inistieog attack who hit 15 wides in normal time and should really have put the issue beyond the Galway champions inside the hour.

Having two men on the bench who went on to score five points between them in the additional 20 minute period made all the difference for the eventual winners.

The game was delayed by about half an hour after the earlier junior final also went to extra time after Kilnadeema/Leitrim’s preparations had been overshadowed by the tragic death of club member Patrick Halpin in London just four days previously.

But the Galway men had shown real heart to see off Cork champions Youghal the previous weekend and began this contest in determined fashion, with Tom Tierney opening the scoring after three minutes.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.