Big win sees Turloughmore enter break in good shape

Beagh   2-13

If there is any team that will bemoan the protracted break in the senior hurling championship it will be Turloughmore – for after seeing off Beagh by a 12-point margin in this second-round SHC encounter on Saturday evening, they must feel the momentum is certainly with them in this group.

No doubt, this was an eye-catching display from Joe Hession’s charges although it will not be lost on Turloughmore either that the two teams they have defeated in the opening rounds of the campaign – Ballinderreen and Beagh – are now rooted to the bottom of the Senior ‘B’ Group 2 table.

It will also not be lost on Turloughmore that they face three stiff tests when the championship resumes in August or September, namely Clarinbridge – who also have two wins from two – Killimordaly and Ahascragh/Fohenagh.

That said, if Turloughmore continue were they left off at Kenny Park, Athenry, they should be in fine fettle entering those contests. For the most part on Saturday, they were excellent, with their pace, movement and precision something to behold.

In the first round, it was Sean Loftus who stood out in the victory over Ballinderreen; but on this occasion, it was Sean Linnane who made a significant impact, scoring five points from play in the opening quarter before being forced off with an injury on 25 minutes.

One imagines if Linnane had managed to stay on the field he would have swelled his tally – maybe even surpassing Ronan O’Meara’s eight-point haul from play for Portumna against Gort in the earlier game – but, as it was, his replacement Richard Doyle was not found wanting as he hit two points upon his introduction.

It summed up just where Turloughmore were for this one. Each and every player was on it from the get-go and whatever work Hession, Barry Cullinane and Peter Fahy have been doing with them on the training ground definitely paid dividends here. Turloughmore’s hurling was a joy to watch.

As for Beagh, they will not be hurt so much by the defeat but by the manner of the loss. The verve they showed in the early years of this decade seems to be gone now and, on Saturday, they looked a pale shadow of the outfit that qualified for county semi-finals in 2013 and ’14.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.