Clarinbridge 2-11 Loughrea 1-14:LOUGHREA, THE great survivors of Galway hurling, engineered another remarkable comeback in a thrilling county final yesterday.
Johnny Coen’s nerveless penalty, struck in the last minute of normal time, marked a stunning reversal of fortunes over the afternoon, wiping out the five points lead that Clarinbridge had enjoyed at half-time and leaving them within seconds of a memorable county title.
As it happened, Clarinbridge managed an equalising score, with Mark Kerins – so poised from placed ball all afternoon – gratefully knocking over a free for an illegal handpass.
Both teams lived on the edge through two frantic minutes of injury-time, with Jamie Cannon getting an invaluable block on Johnny O’Loughlin’s late, late strike for glory in the midst of gripping passage of play.
The two clubs left Salthill with minor quibbles about the frees that led to the last two scores of the match but in the eternal cliche, a draw seemed fairest.
“There was a lot of emotion,” said Joe Sweeney, the Loughrea manager, of those gripping closing minutes. “We probably got out of jail – five points down in the second half. We got a little break with the penalty and it set us up. We thought that we might go on and take it but Clarinbridge had other ideas. But Clarinbridge tore us asunder in the first half. Their goal before half-time was a hammer blow.”
Loughrea were hanging on with fingertips at times. From the first minutes, there was a sharpness about the Clarinbridge front line that must have looked ominous from Loughrea’s perspective. Even though Neil Keary kept Loughrea nicely in touch on the scoreboard with a tidy free-taking display, they were beginning to leak chances.
Goalkeeper Nigel Murray made a crucial stop in a race for possession with Alan Kerins after 19 minutes but just two minutes later, Paul Coen broke free for another one-on-one situation and Murray could not prevent the goal this time. Clarinbridge unpicked Loughrea again just before half-time, with Enda Collins pulling cleverly to return a pass from Alan Kerins, who found his brother Mark with a handpass.
The younger Kerins, who gave a wonderfully imaginative and assured performance through the afternoon, made easy work of the finish and Clarinbridge left the field 2-7 to 0-8 to the good.
When they review this match, the Clarinbridge backroom will doubtless highlight the chances that befell them in the third quarter, when three scoreable points were squandered.
The Loughrea stranglehold was becoming more apparent by the minute, with Damien McClearn, Gavin Keary, Johnny Coen prominent in what was a ferocious and controlled comeback. Greg Kennedy abandoned his role on the sideline to come in for his long-time comrade Nigel Shaughnessy.
Loughrea trailed by three points at this stage but all flow had gone from Clarinbridge, they were living off crumbs now and no ball was won easily. David Forde, however, was a beacon of experience for Clarinbridge, putting out fires throughout the back division and hurling a lot of ball, while at fullback, Brian Burke stood up well through an increasingly physical second half. But Loughrea’s rally was workmanlike and irresistible. Two Keary frees and then a fine point by Johnny Coen left them just one point down with five minutes remaining.
For the crowd of over 10,000, the match was full value. A confident 65 from Kerins – after Murray got his stick to a low shot from Éanna Murphy – gave Clarinbridge a bit more oxygen but Loughrea are masters at creating something from nothing.
Keary ran at a crowded Clarinbridge penalty area and was brought to ground. The whistle went. They could not have wished for a more perfectly timed penalty and celebrated as though it was part of the masterplan.
“Those guys are battle hardened and we knew Loughrea weren’t going to let us run away with it,” said Clarinbridge selector Tom Helebert afterwards. “Each team will feel they could have had it. Both teams had their moments. It is unfortunate that a county final comes down to a few tight critical calls but it is what it is and we are back to play another day.”
CLARINBRIDGE: L Donoghue; C Forde. B Burke, P Callanan; M Donoghue, D Forde, E Collins; B Daly, J Cannon; S Burke, M Kerins (1-9, 0-6 frees, 0-2 65s), S Forde; E Forde (0-2), A Kerins, P Coen (1-0). Subs: E Murphy for E Collins (42 mins), A Armstrong for B Daly (54 mins).
LOUGHREA: N Murray; B Mahony, D McClearn, E Mahony; P Hoban, N Shaughnessy, V Maher; E Mahony, G Keary; J Coen (1-2, 1-0 pen), J Maher (0-1), J Regan; N Keary (0-11, 0-10 frees), J O’Loughlin, T Hoban. Subs: T Regan for E Mahony (half-time), K Colleran for J Regan (39 mins), G Kennedy for N Shaughnessy (48 mins).
Referee: M Dolan (Kilconeiron).
