81 GALWAY SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP REVIEW The term 'mixed bag' seems to go hand-inhand with the Galway Senior Football Championship and this year's Claregalway Hotel and Bon Secours Hospital-sponsored competition certainly ranked in that category. Despite an abundance of positives from the latter stages of the county's National League campaign and an uplifting performance against Roscommon, the summer ended badly for Alan Mulholland's charges leaving pundits and supporters to bemoan the state of football in Galway and look to the club game to provide some encouraging signs. The Championship was competitive, as usual, producing its' usual quota of shocks and as the season evolved there proved to be precious little between the top sides. Corofin and Killererin had dominated the Championship roll of honour in recent times but for only the fourth time since the late 1980s, neither featured on County final day. Tuam Stars recovered from last year's final defeat to mount another stern challenge, emerging clubs like St. James' and Mícheál Breathnachs put together their best-ever Senior Championship runs but when all was said and done, Salthill-Knocknacarra hit form when it mattered most to capture their first County title since 2005. They almost started last year's Championship too well, sweeping all before them in early summer before losing their form and momentum in a nine-week break without competitive action prior to their semi-final defeat to Tuam Stars. In sharp contrast, they timed their run perfectly this year. Far from convincing against St. Michael's and An Cheathrú Rua early in the campaign, Gerry Hughes team produced one of the performances of the season to eliminate Killererin in the semifinals before going on to finish the job against Tuam Stars in the Pearse Stadium showpiece in mid-October. The fallout from the Micheál Breathnachs - Mountbellew-Moylough player eligibility row cast a dark shadow over the 2011 season and resulted in relegation being scrapped in controversial circumstances. It all meant that 22 clubs lined up in this year's Championship and with two of the five defeated teams in the 'backdoor' qualifiers making the drop, even greater importance was attached to early rounds results. Moycullen preserved their Senior status with a play-off win over a Killanin team that joined Claregalway, Barna and Kilkerrin-Clonberne in a series of high pressure, high stakes round-robin ties. In the end, it went right down to the wire with final day wins for Barna and KilkerrinClonberne consigning both Claregalway and Killanin to Intermediate Championship football in 2013. As ever, the Championship only got into its stride at the second round stage with several tight encounters. Throughout their golden era of success over the past two decades, Corofin had been vulnerable in the early rounds and stared a Championship exit square in the face before eventually scraping past Cortoon Shamrocks. Caherlistrane could do everything but finish and were left with major regrets after somehow passing up a series of scoring chances when bowing out at Milltown's hands for the second year running. Despite falling to An Cheathrú Rua, the continued rise of Kilconly was one of the success stories of the season as they consolidated their Senior status and enjoyed a superb league campaign that ended with promotion to the top tier. St. Michael's escaped a relegation battle by surprising Moycullen and advanced to a last 16 meeting with city neighbours and arch rivals, Salthill-Knocknacarra. Eight points separated the teams in Salthill's favour when they clashed in the opening round only four weeks earlier and although the seasiders once again prevailed, St. Michael's produced a driving finish before falling short of forcing extra-time. Mícheál Breathnachs came into the season on the back of a couple of disappointing campaigns and the off-field distractions that dominated their 2011 but underlined their status as a team on the rise when comfortably qualifying for the quarter-finals at Annaghdown's expense. St. James' had too much for Caltra in a dour contest while of all the early round results, none caught the eye more than Tuam Stars win over a Mountbellew-Moylough team that were the highest profile casualty before the last eight. On a weekend when favouritism counted for little in the quarter-finals, Corofin survived a second half collapse, failing to score for the final 17 minutes plus added time, before eventually holding off a resurgent St. James' team that contained no fewer than nine members of this year's County U21 winning side and came within a whisker of victory of overhauling a ninepoint interval deficit. The game's only goal proved decisive in the all-West Board quarter-final where Salthill-Knocknacarra saw off the challenge of An Cheathrú Rua and the widely held view that you must take your chances against Killererin rang true once more as the 2010 champions outlasted a Mícheál Breathnachs team that were left nursing plenty of regrets, particularly from an eminently winnable drawn match six days earlier. Milltown finished the season on a high by retaining the Division 1A League title but their form fluctuated on their way to the Championship last eight and they simply had no answer to a Tuam Stars team building up an impressive head of steam. Corofin and Killererin came into the semifinals rated favourites to setup a repeat of the 2010 decider only for both Tuam Stars and Salthill-Knocknacarra to upset the odds. In the first of a semi-final doubleheader, Tuam Stars success was built on solid defensive foundations with Tony Costello, Gary O'Donnell, Aonghus Tierney and Ian McGough all to the fore. Despite being wind-assisted, Corofin's attack misfired badly in the opening half and they found themselves trailing by six points before eventually getting off the mark in the half's closing minutes. Conor Doherty hit Tuam Stars opening goal and when his elder brother Paul finished a brilliant second soon after the restart, an off-colour Corofin were left with too much of a mountain to climb as Tuam Stars ran out deserving winners, 2-6 to 0-9, over the reigning champions. Salthill-Knocknacarra produced one of the performances of the season in the second semi-final to outclass an out of sorts Killererin, 3-10 to 0-10, and knock the Barnadearg outfit out for the second year running. Padraic Joyce struck a rich vein of scoring form in the Championship, finishing with 4-24 to his name including 3-12 from play, but came up against Finian Hanley in commanding form who along with an impressive Salthill defensive unit denied him and Nicky Joyce the chances to run up the individual tallies that have so often saw Killererin over the winning line in big matches. John Boylan returned from duty with the Irish Defence Forces in Chad and was among Salthill's standout performers along with Gearóid Canavan, David Tierney and Seán Armstrong while in Seamie Crowe, who amassed a personal haul of 2-5, the winners had a finisher close to the top of his game. The Pearse Stadium showpiece played in wet, wintry conditions was an anti-climax from a pure football perspective but was always intriguing nonetheless due to the close nature of the match. Right from the early stages, Finian Hanley and his Salthill defensive colleagues held a decisive edge against a misfiring Tuam Stars attack that relied far too heavily on Shane Curtin to keep them in contention. Many expected a surge from the roll of honour leaders who reached the decider the hard way but it failed to materialise as Salthill finished the job in resounding fashion with the game’s last five points. Man-of-the-match Seán Armstrong capped a fine Championship with a personal tally of seven points, including the key scores in the defining phase of the match that sealed a 0-12 to 07 win and the third title in the club's history. BY BILLY COSS
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