Stars shine to advance to last eight of championship

Mountbellew-Moylough 1-10

By Kevin Egan at Duggan Park

The ghosts that haunt Tuam Stars GAA are not hard to identify.

Three decades without getting their hands on the Frank Fox Cup is a veritable age for a club of their stature, while they came into last Thursday night’s clash with Mountbellew-Moylough on the back of yet another narrowly-missed opportunity to record a victory over Corofin, meaning that their southerly neighbours continue to cast a shadow over the town.

Those demons couldn’t be exorcised regardless of what Tuam Stars did in Duggan Park last Thursday, but while one of their backroom team was overheard predicting a “dog of a game” shortly before the throw-in, this reporter would instead describe it as more of a Schrodinger’s Cat, in that it was both a threat and an opportunity.

Primarily, it was a contest that threatened to end their season, and thus guarantee another year of ‘life’ for their poltergeists. However, it also offered the chance for redemption, growth and development. And by the time Thomas Murphy sounded his final whistle, the Stars had ticked all three of those boxes.

In many ways, this was the perfect game for David Donnellan’s side.

Not even the most ardent supporter of the black and amber men would say that their team is a patch on where they were when they ruled the land three years ago, or even that they are anywhere close to where they were just last year.

However, they still bring plenty of guile, physicality, doggedness and no small amount of quality to the table in any championship match. Even with John Daly’s suspension confirmed, they still commanded respect as a unit, and with that comes a real sense that theirs is a scalp of value.

For all their qualities however, depth is another matter for the stripey men. One could make a legitimate case for saying that the three best individuals on the pitch were all on the losing side: James Foley, Seán Kelly, and Barry McHugh. However, as a group, they were also error-prone, vulnerable in certain matchups, and bereft of any form a plan B, either in terms of personnel, or tactically.

Pictured: Mountbellew/Moylough’s Sean Kelly battles for possession with the Tuam Stars duo of Dara Heneghan and Jamie Murphy.