Gort and Loughrea minor hurlers must meet again

Date Published: 02-Nov-2010

Gort 1-10

Dara Bradley

at Pearse Stadium

NEITHER side played to their potential. Neither side deserved to be called champions. But they didn’t deserve to lose, either. A fair result. Both Gort and Athenry have a chance at redemption – an opportunity to prove what they’re really worth – when they take to the field Sunday week for a replay of the county minor hurling final after this decider ended deadlocked.

Free-flowing hurling was in short supply in Salthill on Sunday, the rain soaked Pearse Stadium pitch – still feeling the effects of a deluge the previous Friday – stifling any sort of fluidity. But there were buckets of honest endeavour, a general commitment and work-rate from the two sides at various stages, and of course a few cameo moments of excellent stick-work, not least the levelling score under pressure from Gort substitute Kieran Burke when time was almost up.

And what this county final lacked in quality throughout, it made up for in excitement in the last quarter. Remember, in the final seven minutes of normal time and the five minutes of additional time, we were treated to seven points, all pressure pucks; the sides were level on four occasions and the lead changed hands twice. It was tense stuff; it got the pulses racing.

For the majority of the match, especially in the first 30 minutes, it looked like the underdogs Gort would cause an upset, but like Loughrea against Clarinbridge in the senior final that followed, Athenry hung in there, battled back bravely and hit the front with the finishing line in sight.

Having trailed by four points when Gort’s Gerard O’Donoghue landed a fine score from play just 18 seconds after the restart, Athenry were facing an uphill battle, considering they were out-hurled for long stretches of the opening half.

But Diarmaid Burns’ charges never threw in the towel and cranked up the tempo to gain parity, 1-7 apiece with seven minutes to go. Gort were all at sea during that middle chunk of the second half, with Athenry finally beginning to show why they were in the final, beginning to get on top in most individual duals and scoring four unanswered points.