Clifden 2-16
Southern Gaels 0-5

Noel Carney at Pearse Stadium

IT was curious to see a team with Southern in its name playing in a regional championship that has West in its title, but it is one of the anomalies of the junior A football competition. In any case it was not a happy experience for the lads from the south of the county at Pearse Stadium last Saturday when the club who definitely are from the west strolled to an easy win.

While there was never any doubt about who would annexe the West Junior A football crown, the Gaels put up a far better challenge than the score-line would suggest and they played with a spirit and attitude that had to be admired as they gallantly battled on when all was lost on the scoreboard.

Comprising players mainly from hurling clubs such as Gort, Kilbeacanty, Kinvara, Ballinderreen and Beagh, they would probably found it hard to get much serious training done, but they can be proud to have reached the final where they made a contest of it for the first half before falling further and further behind after the break.

They were forced to line out without a number of key players too but in all likelihood there was only ever going to be one winner in this game as Clifden, with a mainly young team that contained quite a few players who have represented Galway at underage level, showed that they are a club on the move and it will take a really serious performance to beat them in the final if they produce their best form.

No less than nine Clifden players got on the score-sheet compared to three for the losers who could only manage two points from play in the entire match. Five of the starting forwards raised flags for the winners as did both midfielders and two of their five subs. Such a great spread of scorers bodes well for the team and reflects their superb teamwork and great running, both on and off the ball.

Chris Holmes gave them the lead in the first minute, Alan Keogh added a second and even though St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam star Cathal Slattery responded with one from a free after he himself was fouled on a penetrating run, a superb score by Galway All-Ireland winning minor John O’Brien and another within a minute by Ger Gibbons made it 0-4 to 0-1 and even then with only ten minutes gone, it was looking ominous for the Gaels.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.