Athenry's forwards carry day

When Kevin Broderick rapped home a goal from nothing with 12 minutes remaining, he brought to life a flickering earnestness behind Abbey-Duniry's second consecutive attempt to emerge from the Galway championship. Broderick's pace and trickery distinguished an otherwise fairly flat occasion which was chiefly defined by a dead-ball shoot-out between Abbey's Mattie Kenny and Athenry's Eugene Cloonan.

With his team trailing by 0-12 to 0-9 and beginning to fade, Broderick half-blocked a clearance, scorched across open ground and drilled a low shot which deceived the otherwise excellent Michael Crimmins.

Scarcely had the largely Abbey-Duniry crowd begun to contemplate a prolonged club season than Athenry silenced them, with Pat Higgins firing a quick point before Brendan Keogh scooped a loose ball from the puck out and lofted a distance score to leave the champions two points to the good again.

The underlying sense that Athenry were simply too strong was restored with that, and in the last 10 minutes they eased their way home, with Paul Hardiman landing a fine score to leave them 0-15 to 1-9 ahead with four minutes remaining before the ever-alert Cloonan pounced on a Donal Moran rebound to seal the issue with a goal.

While never exactly stretching themselves, Athenry played with a steady resolution which had a stagnating affect on the Abbey's attack.

Target man Declan Power did forage for a reasonable amount of ball, but more often than not he ran into a stone wall in the half-back trio of Brian Feeney, Paul Hardiman and Brian Higgins, who combined to form the bedrock of Athenry's challenge.

Feeney underlined the void his absence created during Galway's brief flowering against Clare last summer while Hardiman was in sublime form, mopping up ball, distributing cleverly and stepping up to pop the score which withered Abbey hopes late in the game.

Although Joe Rabbitte was peripheral for much of the game, he did enough to demonstrate his peerless vision, nonchalantly flicking crossfield passes to unmarked teammates and lobbing a 54th minute point when Brendan Keogh directed a handpass into his own path.

Cloonan had a mixed afternoon by his own standards, generally flawless from dead balls but screwing a sequence of acutely angled attempts wide before eventually scooping on Higgins's parried shot for his first score from play.

Around him, Cathal and Donal Moran rotated tirelessly, giving Athenry myriad options in attack which highlighted the central difference between the sides. In the 35th minute, Cathal Moran stepped onto a measured pass from Rabbite to snap a point and three minutes later he dashed onto a neat lay-off by David Donoghue to lob over another.

Abbey-Duniry, meanwhile, were finding it tough to engineer chances. Mattie Kenny kept them firmly in the game with steady free taking - many of which resulted from his own efforts - but they only rarely managed to deliver sufficient ball to the lethal Broderick.

Liam Hodgins, Fergus Flynn and James Shiel gave substance to Abbey's resistance but only in the few minutes either side of Broderick's strike did the team play with the requisite urgency and dash.

The match was at its most open then but Athenry's unflinching response to the goal which levelled matters was pivotal; in the last period, Abbey were left chasing the game and blatantly went goal seeking with six minutes remaining.

The best opportunity fell to Fergus Flynn with five minutes left: he fetched a pass from Power and unleashed a vicious drive wide off Crimmin's far post. Athenry broke down field, Donal Moran lobbed a point and with the score at 0-16 to 110, Abbey had no answer.

The first half had been mostly unsatisfactory, too free-ridden to allow the silkier stars of Galway hurling to flourish. Again, Broderick proved the exception to this standard, radaring on a long puck-out by Kevin Devine before burning through the centre of the field and tapping a point to leave the scores at six points apiece.

Athenry edged ahead towards the close of the half courtesy of a strike by Donal Moran and a Cloonan free and even though the game was theoretically there for the taking, Abbey-Duniry's first half argument didn't ring true. Athenry only half-shone also but it was enough and they have the look of a team which may last the distance.

ATHENRY: M Crimmins; E Keogh, G Keane, J Feeney; B Higgins, B Feeney, P Hardiman (0-1); B Keogh (0-1), B Hanley (0-1); J Rabbitte (0-1), E Cloonan (1-4, four frees), D Moran (0-2); C Moran (0-3), P Higgins (0-2), D Donoghue (0-1). Sub: J Hardiman for D Donoghoue (54 mins).

ABBEY-DUNIRY: K Devine; K Finnerty, L Hodgins, C Kavanagh; N Finnerty, F Flynn, J Shiel; G Lynch, D Donnelly; PJ Kenny (0-1); D Power, T Kavanagh; K Broderick (1-2), M Kenny (0-7, frees), M Sheil. Sub: N Shiel for G Lynch (54 mins).