Turloughmore celebrate Galway Junior A Hurling Championship success

John Rabbitt was able to call on Fergal Moore, Michael Casserly, Ronan Badger, Gary Burke and Conor Shaughnessy, who have all lined out at senior level for Turloughmore. Badger was in fine scoring form, finishing with 2-5, while Galway U20 footballer Matthew Collins was lively in attack and contributed 1-2 for the winners.

The Tommy Larkins team consisted largely of the side that was narrowly defeated by Ballybrown in the All-Ireland Junior B final back in March. The Woodford and Ballinakill outfit were hoping to follow the example set by their senior side, who had overcome Clarinbridge in their semi-final a day earlier.

It was a frantic opening 20 minutes, with four green flags raised as supporters were treated to an entertaining first half. Just one minute into the contest, Tommy Larkins forward David Hickey’s free dropped short and Ryan Daniels reacted quickest to flick the sliotar past Turloughmore goalkeeper Ciaran Wilde.

However, by the sixth minute Turloughmore had responded with two goals of their own. Wilde’s free dropped short and Badger got a touch on the sliotar to divert it into the back of the net before the former Turloughmore senior struck his second goal two minutes later.

Ryan Daniels and Hickey brought the sides level before the North Galway club rattled off 1-4 without reply during a ten-minute spell. Their third goal arrived through Collins as Turloughmore opened up a 3-4 to 1-3 advantage after 21 minutes.

Tommy Larkins refused to go away, with Adam Page handpassing the sliotar across to Adam Daniels, who drilled his shot low past Wilde. Hickey then added his third free of the half to leave Paul Kelly’s side trailing by three points with six minutes remaining before the break.

Badger, Wilde, Conor Shaughnessy and Collins closed out the half impressively for the men in white and black as they established a 3-8 to 2-4 advantage at the interval.

Tommy Larkins rallied after the restart, with two Hickey frees and a Cian Duggan point from play cutting the deficit to five by the 43rd minute. They also passed up three scoreable opportunities during that period which could have brought them even closer.

Turloughmore remained in control, however, as a Badger free and another Collins point gave them some more breathing space and moved them 3-11 to 2-7 clear with nine minutes remaining.

Duggan continued to lead the Tommy Larkins attack during the second half and he found Adam Daniels, who struck the sliotar on the run and smashed it into the roof of the net to reduce the deficit to 3-12 to 3-8 after 58 minutes.

Turloughmore did not panic, with Conor Shaughnessy and Josh Kearns keeping their composure late on, while Tommy Larkins could only manage further scores from Duggan and Paul Fahy as Turlough held firm to secure the Junior A title.

Ciaran Wilde, Andy Longeran, Cian Shaughnessy, Badger, Collins, Conor Shaughnessy and Josh Kearns all impressed for the victors. Adam Daniels proved a handful for the Turloughmore defence scoring 3-1 while Cian Duggan, Shane Kelly, Paul Fahy and Adam Page produced solid displays men in red and black.

TURLOUGHMORE: C Wilde (0-2, 0-2f); J Hughes, J Collins, M Casserly; A Lonergan, D Joyce, Cian Shaughnessy; Cathal Shaughnessy, F Moore; B Murphy, M Collins (1-2), G Burke; Conor Shaughnessy (0-2), R Badger (2-5, 0-4 f), J Kearns (0-2). SUBS: E O’Brien for Moore (25, injury), A O’Brien (0-1) for Burke (47) N Murphy for Casserly (48), C Walsh for Badger (51), I Moloney for Hughes (54).

TOMMY LARKINS: D Flynn; S Kelly, P Fahy (0-1), J Larkin; S Whyte, E Forde, G Hanley; S O’Grady, A Page; E Fahy, J Dervan, D Hickey (0-5, 0-5f); C Duggan (0-2), A Daniels (3-1, 0-1 f), R Daniels (0-1). SUBS: J O’Donnell for Fahy (42), N Flaherty for Hickey (50), D Keane for R Daniels (54).

REFEREE: David Earls