McGlynn snatches schools hurling glory for St Brigid's

Pres. Athenry 0-14

DAMIAN McGlynn was the hero for St Brigid’s, Loughrea after his point deep into injury time secured a heart-stopping win over Presentation College, Athenry in Saturday’s Connacht Post Primary Schools Senior A Hurling Final.

McGlynn’s point was the decider in a tit-for-tat contest in which both sides showed plenty of determination. It was a harsh lesson for Athenry, last year’s champions, but they cannot have too many complaints, particularly when they managed only three points from play.

Loughrea were not exactly free-scoring either but with six players making contributions to the scoreboard, they had more than double the amount than their opponents and were the only side to threaten the goal, even if their only major, scored by Jason Nevin, did arrive in somewhat fortuitous circumstances.

It was unsurprising that Athenry were heavily reliant on Evan Niland, who played for the Galway senior team in the Walsh Cup, and it was the full-forward who put the holders into a 0-3 to 0-1 with three frees by the eigfhth minute, Dylan Towolawi opening the scoring for Loughrea inside 20 seconds.

One of the defining scores of the game came soon after, however, with Loughrea scoring an all-important goal. Damian McGlynn’s effort from the right-wing dropped short of the posts and into the palm of goalkeeper Mark Fahy, but the sliotar spilled from Fahy’s grasp and Loughrea forward Jason Nevin was first on the scene to bundle the ball over the line.

Nevin nearly had another goal moments later when his mishit shot looked to be dropping under the crossbar but Fahy did enough to bat the effort away to safety. Conor Molloy put Loughrea two points ahead, 1-2 to 0-3, in the 13th minute before his side were given a great opportunity to take control of the contest.

Donal Mannion set off on a jinking run through the middle of the Athenry defence before being dragged down just as he was about to take his shot at goal. Dylan Towolawi stepped up to strike the penalty but while his effort was well-placed, it bounced before the line, allowing Fahy to dive low to his right and pull off a good save.

When Conor Molloy converted the resulting ‘65 to put three points between the sides after 21 minutes, it would be the biggest lead either side enjoyed in the game, but even that cushion lasted all of 30 seconds before Barry Callanan got Athenry’s first score from play, and their first of any kind for a quarter of an hour.

Molloy edged Loughrea three ahead with a neat point from play but Athenry came back strongly in the five minutes before the break to level the contest. Niland converted two long-range frees either side of an effort from Ian Connolly, who had been set-up by good work from Patrick Foley up the left-wing.

Full coverage in this week's Connacht Tribune.