Super-fit Tuam Stars turn it around to secure final place
Tuam Stars 3-11
Moycullen 1-12
Tomás Keating at Pearse Stadium
ON the 34th minute, Dessie Conneely swung over a point to put Moycullen five points up. It may have looked like the game was escaping Tuam’s grasp, but they ripped up the script hitting 2-5 without reply in a 16-minute spell, to set up mouth-watering county final against fierce rivals Corofin at Tuam Stadium on October 20.
It has been a dramatic turnaround from this season compared to last for Tuam Stars. Last year under Ja Fallon, Tuam narrowly avoided the drop to intermediate football as they defeated Caltra and Barna in the relegation play-offs.
New manager Tommy Carton has done a phenomenal job with Tuam this year, they’ve won 14 out of 15 matches in league and championship, with their only loss coming to Corofin in the opening round last May. Coincidentally, Tuam are chasing their first county title since 1994, where they defeated Corofin by a single point in the final, with an 18-year-old Tommy Carton kicking the winner in the closing stages of the game.
Carton’s training methods appear to be translating to the field of play as Tuam’s conditioning was something to behold. Their press in the second-half completely suffocated Moycullen, and it was typified with their third goal, as Ben O’Connell anticipated Andrew Power’s short kick-out, fleeced Aidan Claffey, coolly rounded Power and buried it into the empty net.
Tuam’s second-half performance was magnificent, but they were found wanting in the first-half. Although, they were playing against the wind into the Áras Bóthar na Trá end, they were fortunate to go in at the break only five down as ‘keeper Johnny Trayers made a miraculous save from a Conor Bohan shot on the stroke of the half-time, which would have put eight points in it.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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