Hurling survival contest goes to the wire

Moycullen 1-13

CARNMORE, no strangers to survival battles, stay senior by the skin of their teeth. In the end, it was only their experience of many years playing at this level that got them through this tricky relegation final at Kenny Park on Sunday.

In contrast, Moycullen were raw and this was no more underlined by, arguably, the defining period of the game. Awarded a free approximately 30 metres out, Moycullen had the opportunity to tie up the contest for the sixth time. It was that sort of game – a game of inches.

However, instead of taking his point, midfielder and freetaker Eanna Noone went short to wing-forward Niall Mannion and his shot rebounded off Ciaran Fahy’s crossbar before Carnmore seized possession and won a free out. Opportunity lost.

To compound the losers’ woes, the ensuing move caused consternation in the Moycullen defence and, in the mayhem, Jason Byrne pulled the sliotar first time to the net for an invaluable 45th minute goal. It was a pivotal sequence of events.

That score catapulted Carnmore, who were fighting their third relegation battle in five years, into a 1-12 to 1-8 lead heading into the final quarter and when substitute Shane Hynes added a point within a minute of his introduction, it looked as if Carnmore were home and dry.

However, if Carnmore were looking for one of the reasons as to why they found themselves in relegation, it manifested itself over the remaining period when they allowed Moycullen to close the gap to the minumum with just three minutes to go. The tie should have been closed out.

Within a three minute spell, Moycullen hit three unanswered points to cut the margin to two – Niall Mannion (2) and Noone (free) on target – and while Carnmore’s Hynes responded, further efforts from Conor Bohan and Noone (free) left it 1-14 to 1-13 by the 57th minute.

Moycullen, however, just didn’t have the nuance or guile of Carnmore – another feature underlined by their lack of composure in front of the posts and their 13 wides to their opponent’s nine.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.