County champions Loughrea pushed all the way by Moycullen in Galway SHC
LOUGHREA were pushed all the way by Moycullen last Friday evening in Pearse Stadium and the reigning county champions narrowly hung on for a 1-17 to 1-14 victory.
When Niall Mannion swept home from close range to put Moycullen a point ahead deep into stoppage time, a mighty shock looked on the cards with Loughrea staring into a second-straight defeat. Thankfully for the defending champions, referee Conor Quinlan decided Mannion’s strike came from too-close range, ruling it out as a square ball, and Loughrea held on for a much-needed win.
It was a night of contrasting emotions for Tommy Kelly’s side, who would have expected a response after their opening-round loss to Tommy Larkin’s. A strong finish - Loughrea hit five of the last six scores - showed their mettle but the fact that they were forced to dig as deep showed that there’s plenty of work yet to be done.
Moycullen deserve huge credit for how they put it up to the side going for three-in-a-row. The Connemara men lost both Fionn McDonagh and captain Éanna Davoren through injury in the first half but stout defence and a brilliant performance from James Bradley, who finished with 0-11, had Moycullen ahead with just minutes left.
Loughrea were deserving winners, however. If Moycullen had the game’s top-scorer in Bradley, it was Loughrea who had by far the better spread with 11 players in blue and yellow finding the target. Darren Shaughnessy was their main contributor with 1-2, despite lasting just 20 minutes after picking up an injury in the act of scoring a goal. In better news, Anthony Burns made his return off the bench while Jamie Ryan contributed 0-4, including two magnificent points from sideline cuts, but Loughrea’s evening would have been a lot easier had a couple of the 14 wides they hit gone over the bar.
Three frees from James Bradley had Moycullen 0-3 to 0-2 ahead after eight minutes but Loughrea hit the front in the second quarter. Tiernan Killeen brought the sides level, 0-4 apiece, in the 17th minute before Jamie Ryan put Loughrea ahead with a sideline cut from where the 21m line met the righthand sideline.
When Darren and Jack Shaughnessy forced a turnover in the Moycullen defence allowing the former to strike the game’s first goal, it looked as if Loughrea might begin to pull away but Moycullen had an instant response. A brilliant fetch from Cian Folan set up Colm Cunningham and he struck low and hard to reduce the gap back to one.
Loughrea brought that back out to three by half-time, 1-8 to 1-5, but James Bradley hit two points in the opening two minutes after the restart as the sides continued to trade blows. Loughrea were three ahead again heading into the final quarter but four points on the bounce from Bradley saw Moycullen lead briefly in the 57th minute.
Jack Shaughnessy hit back straight away with a great score from the right wing and while the sides were level again as the clock ticked into the red, a super effort from Shane O’Brien edged Loughrea ahead before Jame Ryan made it a two-point gap.
Niall Mannion’s late goal could have caused shockwaves had it stood but it was Loughrea who finished the scoring, Shane Morgan firing over a free with the last puck after Mark Gillespie was shown a red card.
Moycullen: J. Molloy; Fiachra McDonagh, M. Donohue, D. Davoren; E. Enright, É. Davoren, M. Kearns; M. Bradley, D. Davoren; É. Noone (0-1), J. Bradley (0-11, 6fs, 2 ‘65), N. Mannion (0-1); Fionn McDonagh, C. Folan, M. Gillespie (0-1). Subs: C. Cunningham (1-0) for Fiachra McDonagh (15), M. M. Walsh for E. Davoren (29).
Loughrea: G. Loughnane; P. Hoban, J. Coen, G. Maher; S Sweeney, S. Morgan (0-2, 2fs), J. Mooney (0-1); I Hanrahan (0-1), Cullen Killeen; Caimin Killeen (0-1), T. Killeen (0-2), J. Ryan (0-4, 2 sideline); J. Shaughnessy (0-1), Darren Shaughnessy (1-2), M. McManus (0-1). Subs: M. Murray for D Shaughnessy (22), A Burns (0-1) for Murray (HT), A Kelly for Sweeney (37), S. O’Brien (0-1) for McManus (58).
Referee: Conor Quinlan.