St.Attractas C.S vs. St. Jarlaths College Tuam
On Wednesday, the 15 th of October, St. Attractas hosted St. Jarlaths of Tuam in what was a remarkable display of football considering the terrible wintery conditions that were present. The Attractas side played from left to right for the first 30 minutes of the contest against a very strong breeze. Jarlaths used this factor as an advantage to them and drove on in the opening 10 minutes. With only 15 minutes into the game, St. Jarlaths had outscored Attractas by 1-5 to no score with a powerful goal coming from the Jarlaths centre-back after great link-up play by the side. Things were not looking good for the south Sligo squad as they simply were not able to convert any scores against an almost gale force wind. Just as we though the worst was over, a black card was shown to the Attractas centre-forward Niall O’Dowd and was then substituted by Gerard Perry. But when Rian Kennedy stepped up to the mark and pointed a free from 20 yards, St. Attractas soon began to find their feet. From then on, the Tubbercurry side now began to play more fluent football as they would have liked and were now well settled into the game. But one second of lacked concentration led to the substitute full-forward of St. Jarlaths, to rattle the onion bag and net home Jarlaths’ second goal in the first half. It looked as though Attractas’ game was finished as the Tuam side kept ticking over the scoreboard with 2 points from frees coming from the no. 12, and some long ranged converted attempts from the centre-forward. But St. Attractas kept battling and fought hard opening up a great goal chance only to be denied by blocks from the Jarlaths goalkeeper and full-back. This was one of the stand out moments of the 1 st half. The Tubbercurry side played some very effortless football coming up to halftime, with great link up play by the Perry brothers Jason and Gerard, and great work rate and enthusiasm from Liam Gaughan, Eddie McGuinness and Nathan Mullen. But just as referee John Gilmartin was about to blow the whistle to signal half time, an incident took place resulting in the Jarlaths no.9 receiving a straight red card. The sides went into the half on a scoreline of 2-9 to 0-2, but with 15 men against 14.
When the second half commenced, it was clear St. Attractas were a completely different side. With the strong wind behind their back, this gave the forwards a chance to really come out of their shell and they did just that with Cian Gilmartin and Jason Perry pointing some mighty scores from out the field. The Attractas full back line consisting of the Curry duo, Gary Walsh and Aaron Kearns, and alongside them, Darren Leonard of Tourlestrane, were at some stages impossible to beat as they stuck tight to their men and didn’t give them an inch. That was the reason St. Jarlaths only scored 1 point from play in the second half. Now, Attractas felt that it was time for a substitution. Dylan Henry, who had put in a great shift in corner forward, was taken off and Darragh McDonagh brought on in his place. Six scores for Attractas without reply-suddenly saw the Tubbercurry machine chugging ominously again, helped by free-kicks from Liam Gaughan and Rian Kennedy, and the typical resourcefulness of Richard Lang and Patrick Burke in the backs. When high ball needed to be won in the middle third, Ciarán Walsh began to show his true potential. When Walsh caught a massive kick out by goal-keeper Paul Brennan, a direct pass was given to Jason Perry who cut through the defence like a knife through butter and fired a shot at the Jarlaths goal, only to be denied by the post. But quick reactions by Cian Gilmartin meant that at least a point came out of that attack. With 10 minutes to go, fresh legs were needed by St. Attractas and Niall O’ Donnell came on for Richard Lang who had worked his socks off, getting straight into the game, winning a crucial ball in the middle. Patrick Burke and Nathan Mullen converted an extra two points to the St. Attractas tally and, if St. Jarlaths didn’t watch out, this game could have been snatched away from them.
For the last 5 minutes of the game, no score was conceded by either teams with both back lines playing immensely well. Adrian Frain came on for Ciarán Walsh in the dying stages of the game and with a great save from Paul Brennan, Attractas were still in the contest. All that was needed was a goal to end the match in a draw but the lads in black couldn’t seem to find the net. St. Jarlaths won the game on a scoreline of 2-11 to 0-13 in what was a thrilling game to watch. All eyes will be set on both teams for the rest of the year and who knows, these could be the teams battling it out for a Connacht Championship title in a few months time.