Joyce turns on the style for Killererin

Date Published: 28-Sep-2010

Killererin 0-14 Mountbellew-Moylough 1-9

(After extra-time)

FRANK FARRAGHER

AT TUAM STADIUM

BOTH sides stared into the cold eye of county semi-final defeat at Tuam Stadium on Saturday evening but when the goalposts came into focus at critical stages of this match, it was the men of Killererin who held their nerve to deservedly earn a showdown date next month against two-in-a-row champions Corofin.

It was a titanic struggle which brought with it the full gamut of emotions . . . absolute elation for Killererin, utter dejection for Mountbellew-Moylough, but riveting entertainment for the crowd of about 1,200 people.

Potential Galway managers observing the exchanges mightn’t have that many extra names to pencil into their notebook after their two hour stint in the stadium – but there were a few – and neither side could be faulted in terms of absolute commitment and honesty.

Like so many tight games, it all came down in the end to that simple but rather scarce commodity of finishing power and in this department, Killererin held a very clear edge, most notably through the probes of Nicky Joyce. His elusive runs, deceptively fast stride and shooting confidence al

ways had the Mountbellew defence on the back foot and his personal tally of eight points, divided equally between play and frees, represented the essential difference between the sides by the time Brendan Kinneavey sounded the final whistle.There had to be a fair degree of sympathy in the neutral quarter for

Mountbellew by the time the clock struck seven bells on a dull but settled autumnal evening in Tuam . . . they had staged a memorable second half comeback which came within a kick of the ball of earning them a county final place. They won’t need any reminding that their Achilles heel continues to be a lack of genuine finishing power, for they generated enough primary possession in both the second half of normal time and the final period of extra-time to win this match.

At 6-1 down and with half-time just five minutes away, the Mountbellew-Moylough cause looked utterly doomed given their own forward problems and Killererin’s stingy reputation in surrendering decent leads.During that opening 25 minutes, Killererin had established a solid foothold around the midfield sector with Daniel Mannion, Tommie Joyce, Jonathan Keane, Thomas Hughes and Padraic Joyce winning a lot of ball, while Nicky Joyce was in lethal form in front of goal hitting the target on four occasions.