Gort men put Clarinbridge to the sword

Clarinbridge 1-9

YOU would think that Gort’s ability to conjure up goals out of the blue – a trademark of their championship run to date – are just strokes of good fortune, but the timing of them against Clarinbridge would suggest whatever blueprint they have adopted has been succinctly fine tuned.

To the fore for the victors were speed merchants Richie Cummins and teenager Jack Grealish – tallying 2-4 and 2-1 respectively – and their goals in all four quarters were pivotal in booking Gort’s place in the quarter-finals with a round of fixtures remaining.

Clarinbridge, on the other hand, were left chasing their opponents for most of the first half and when Grealish pounced for his second goal in the opening two minutes of the second period – to make it 3-5 to 0-5 – it really was game over for Michael Browne’s outfit.

Grealish had already netted his and Gort’s first goal when he raced onto breaking ball – and into an acre of space – on 13 minutes, coolly slotting his effort beyond the Bridge’s Shane Mannion to put his side into a 1-2 to 0-2 advantage. While there would only be one other score in the ensuing eight minutes – that an excellent point from Wayne Walsh – Gort were in pole position to secure the win after Cummins got on the end of a loose ball to net on 21 minutes.

This time a Grealish effort for a point was taken down by Mannion but he couldn’t control it and the ball spilled out to the inrushing Cummins. A gift of sorts – granted – but the timing of it totally undid a Clarinbridge outfit that had, for all intents and purposes, been competitive.

However, by the time, Gort struck for their fourth major with three minutes remaining – Cummins breaking from a ruck into space before scooping the sliotar deftly to the net – Clarinbridge’s game plan was in tatters and they were battling for nothing more than honour. In this respect, the ‘Bridge deserved to take the bare look off their scoreline with a goal in injury-time – Barry Keane getting on the end of a delivery from substitute Ronan Burke to finally breach Gort’s last line of defence in goalkeeper Gavin Lally.

Full report in the Connacht Tribune