Loughrea play the game on own terms to reach decider

Clarinbridge 1-16

By Kevin Egan at Kenny Park

A quarter of a century ago, when the provincial revolution was yet to take place in Irish rugby and the club game was at its peak, an upstart club from the midlands found a unique way of maximising home advantage.

Buccaneers was formed out of an amalgamation of Athlone and Ballinasloe rugby clubs, and that meant they had two home fields. When Limerick’s traditional powers – the Shannons, Young Munsters and Garryowens of this world – were down to travel, they would be sent to the much better playing surface in Athlone, to minimise any advantage that their feared packs might enjoy.

But when it was a Blackrock, St. Mary’s or Terenure set to visit? Well then off to Ballinasloe they would go, where the slower ground would blunt the edge of these lively backlines.

Loughrea Hurling Club had no say in where last Saturday’s Galway SHC semi-final against Clarinbridge would be held, and given the time of year and the conditions, nobody would say that Kenny Park was anything other than pristine, an ideal surface for a game of this magnitude.

Despite this, just like Buccaneers all those years ago, it felt like this game was played completely on Loughrea’s terms and that Tommy Kelly’s men were in complete control of proceedings throughout. The hurling was fast or disjointed, depending on when Loughrea wanted it to be one way or the other, and it was the same when it came to physicality and needle. The flick was switched as and when it suited the Loughrea cause.

It wasn’t until Anthony Burns’ late goal that the town side were safely through to their second county final in three years, but even when Clarinbridge were trying to rally through the second half and the winners were negotiating their way through a 12-minute scoring drought, Loughrea always had their opponents in a chokehold, playing the game in a manner and at a pace that suited themselves alone.

Pictured: Loughrea's Tiernan Killeen gets to the ball ahead of Clarinbridge's Conor Lee during Saturday's County Senior Hurling Semi-Final at Kenny Park. Photo: Joe O'Shaughnessy.