Galway SHC Semi-final/Loughrea 1-6 Athenry 1-5: If semi-finals are for winning, then Loughrea won the ultimate contest in a soaking and half-lit Athenry yesterday afternoon.
It hardly mattered to Loughrea that the abysmal conditions made a travesty of the game or that the quality of the fare did no justice to the quality of players on show. Nor will it bother the victors that they made heavy weather of Athenry despite having an extra man for 55 minutes.
If Loughrea become the county champions for 2005, this game will ferment with time and be remembered locally as a classic demonstration of parish pride and resilience. Loughrea wanted it so badly the chief danger for them now is they might feel their summer's work is done. They beat the dreaded Athenry by a single point - the winning shot a free from Johnny O'Loughlin after 59 minutes - and did so in a manner that suggested the curtains may be drawing on the team that held the flame for Galway hurling through the dark years.
A huge crowd turned up at Kenny Park, possibly augmented by neutrals moved by the salacious possibility the "bad blood" these teams share might resurface. The throw-in was delayed 15 minutes and when the action started it was raining hard.
As a spectacle, the game never recovered from its most dramatic moment. After just five minutes Eugene Cloonan, Athenry's chief playmaker, was sent off for a second yellow card. His two late strokes weren't in the decapitation category but they were silly, particularly in a game with such history, and the referee, undoubtedly under instruction from up high, was in no mood for giving the benefit of the doubt.
The most talked-about hurler in Galway walked. It was a lonely and desperately disappointing moment for a lad whose sometimes brilliant and sometimes controversial career has stalled when it should be peaking.
Without Cloonan, a thorny presence around the box and a serial scoretaker, the champions struggled. They managed just two first-half points, and with fullback Damien McClearn the free man, the Loughrea defence looked increasingly comfortable and brave when bravery was needed. Steven Creavan breathed hot on the collar of big Joe Rabbitte, who valiantly tried to play both centre and full forward.
Loughrea took control after seven minutes. The Athenry full back line failed to deal with a short, dropping shot from Brian Mahoney and O'Loughlin played a clever, square ball for Gavin Keary to smash home.
Leading 1-2 to 0-0, they had several chances to put Athenry in a deeper hole but the shooting was terrible on both sides.
It was 1-2 to 0-2 at the break and before going indoors for tea, the parishes engaged in a general scuffle that might have turned nasty. One Loughrea player was driven to fire his hurl at an Athenry man. He missed, which said much about the afternoon.
After the break - Loughrea stayed in so long it was suggested by some they might have gone home - Rabbitte was booked for his part in the production.
The last 30 minutes were damp but gripping. Athenry showed flashes of fine hurling, Shane Donohue floating a mighty point through the gloom and defenders Brian Hanley and John Feeney driving the team on.
Loughrea dug in, content with hitting first-time ball forward and trusting the speed of their forwards. It wasn't pretty but for this day it worked, and for their honesty Loughrea deserved the afternoon.
When Michael Quinn buried a goal that mirrored Loughrea's in its build-up, Athenry trailed by just a point with five minutes remaining. Then Brian Hanley landed the point of the afternoon from halfway, close to the sideline, and the home support roused, thinking of another great escape. It was not to be.
Loughrea, not for the first time, got a break of the ball and the referee's whistle. O'Loughlin delivered a 40-yard free he will remember all his life.
Afterwards, Athenry, a team that has seen a lot of road, were gracious toward the victors, who danced for joy in the rain. Now comes the small matter of the Canning boys and Portumna.
LOUGHREA: N Murray; C Bugler, D McClearn, T Regan; J Dooley, V Maher, S Creavan; B Mahoney, N Shaughnessy; E McMahon, G Keary (1-0), J Maher (0-1, free); G Kennedy (0-1), J O'Loughlin (0-4), K Colleran.
ATHENRY: M Crimmins; T Kelly, D Cloonan, J Feeney; B Higgins, D Carroll, L Howley; S Donohue (0-1, free), B Hanley (0-1); J Rabbitte (0-1), MJ Quinn (1-0), S Glynn; D Moran, E Cloonan, D Donohue (0-2, one free).
Referee: P Ó hUaithne.
