Are out of the race
several assured catches from kickouts, St Attracta’s only sparkled very early on when in the first-half when Tom Bailey and Cian J Gallagher pointed in the opening five minutes.
Gallagher’s point briefly put the defending champions in front, 0-2 to 0-1, and this was the only time that St Attracta’s were in the lead.
Errors, turnovers and poor ball into their forwards left St Attracta’s at a disadvantage. Of course they tried to summon the spirit of last year’s Connacht-winning campaign.
They had five players from that season on the pitch – four starters, Tommy Ross,
Tom Bailey, Cian J Gallagher and Conor McDonagh, and a fifth, Kyle McDonagh, who came on at the start of the second-half.
St Attracta’s were wonderful cohesive for the opening 10 minutes or so of the second-half and they landed an unanswered 1-2 to give themselves a fighting chance of turning this game around.
There were two exceptional points from play from Tom Bailey, who probably St Attracta’s best player although Tommy Ross also worked hard, and Kyle McDonagh’s presence brought composure and pep to St Attracta’s attacking moves.
Ryan McGowan netted from close-range after the ball had been lofted into the Dunmore goalmouth through good work from Kyle McDonagh and Tom Bailey.
The number of points scored by St Attracta’s in the first-half of their game against Dunmore.
Best for St Attracta’s:
St Attracta’s Community School (Tubbercurry): Farrell Moran, Donnacha Henry, Tommy Ross Tadgh Horkan,
Cathal Walsh, Aaron O’Hara, Luke Durkin (0-1, 1f), Ben Clavin, Kern O’Doherty, Tom Bailey (0-3), Cian J Gallagher (c) (0-1), Conor McDonagh (0-2), Matthew Walsh, Ross Donoghue, Ryan McGowan (1-0)
Subs used: Kyle McDonagh, Fionn Duffy, Oisin Deehan, Cian Foran, David McGuire
Chris Donnellan, Luke Dowling, Finian Cronin, Scott Glynn, Dylan Hannon, Dylan Connolly, Jonathan Meehan, Robert Glynn, Niall Heneghan (0-3), Ruairi Walkin, Robert Heneghan (1-1), Daithi Reddington, Barry Murray, Padraig Martyn (c) (0-2), Colm Costello (1-4, 1 ‘mark’)
Subs used: James Carr, Fionnan Coleman
Referee: John Glavey (Mayo)
With the gap no longer unassailable – Dunmore’s eight-point lead had suddenly been trimmed to three, 2-6 to 1-6, with 36 minutes gone – St Attracta’s were a renewed force. Or so it seemed.
Unfortunately, last season’s champions only managed a further two scores over the next half-hour.
They were unlucky that the ball didn’t bounce a certain way during bouts of pressure on the Dunmore goalmouth but, overall, St Attracta’s
can have few complaints.
It could have ended up a bigger defeat but goalkeeper Farrell Moran made two superb saves to thwart certain Dunmore goals during the second-half.
While this was a different form of heartbreak it was still a painful way to leave at this stage of the competition.