Finn’s side book their place at the top table for next year

Padraig Pearses 0-11

It’s been heartbreak time and time again for Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry since the introduction of the Senior A and B championships in 2016, but on Saturday evening, those years of pain drove them over the line as they came out on top in a winner takes all clash with Padraig Pearses to top the group and earn promotion to Senior A next year.

Not only will they ply their trade in Senior A next year, but Mike Finn’s side can now look forward to a preliminary quarter-final, avoiding the dreaded playoff which has proven their undoing the past two seasons.

Padraig Pearses will no doubt come away disappointed not to be making the jump straight back to Senior A but in truth they were second best for much of the tie, landing a mere 0-4 from play in total.

This was a hard-fought contest with a lot of niggly stuff going on both on and off the ball resulting in one player from each team, Johnny Conroy for Tynagh/Abbey and Cormac Ward for Pearses, receiving their marching orders either side of half-time.

And it was Tynagh/Abbey’s ability to adapt to the situation they found themselves in which ultimately saw them cross the line with a bit to spare come full-time.

Having lost Conroy on the stroke of half-time, and only leading by a point at the break, Tynagh/Abbey had it all to do, but Ward’s straight red card just seven minutes after being introduced at the break, certainly helped.

Tynagh/Abbey came out for the second half and deployed Shane Moloney as a lone target man in the inside line for large periods, thus creating space in either side which helped negate the influence of Cyril Donnellan in the middle.

At the other end, Paul Killeen thundered in to the game and dominated in defence, coming out with ball after ball as Pearses struggled to create many meaningful opportunities going forward.

Frees were both sides main source of scores with space at a premium in either defence making scores from play hard to come by and indeed it was Moloney who landed the first score of the day from a free but that was quickly cancelled out by Tomas Flannery with his first of six successful placed balls.

Conroy landed one of the scores of the game then after plucking a long free by Killeen in the air and sending it between the posts from out on the left sideline.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and  county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.