Liam Mellows.....5-5
Carnmore..........5-5
For the second week in succession Carnmore hurlers turned in a top class display when holding Liam Mellows to a draw in this West Board senior game at Pearse Stadium on Sunday. Narrowly beaten in the previous week when they went down by three points to county champions Castlegar they continued on Sunday in last weeks second half vein and played open fast and skilful hurling. For this team with an amazing half forward line that ran all over the Mellows defence this was a most satisfactory display.
But Mellows too can feel very happy about Sunday's outcome. Trailing by 4-4 lo 1-1 at half lime they really turned on the style in the second half and opened up the packed Carnmore defence with some truly magnificent hurling. Both teams showed a refreshing zest for the game on Sunday and with a gale force wind behind them in the first half Carnmore laid siege to the Mellows goal. And it was their forwards who dazzled in this first half. Michael Greaney opened their scoring with a second minute point and from then on this Carnmore forward line never looked back. Together Padraic Fahy and Michael Greaney formed a wonderful partnership that really set their forwards buzzing. And this contagious play also infected Michael Hanley, who was always the danger man the Mellows backs had to watch for.
But this Carnmore display was only superseded by Mellows at the back. Again it was Jimmy Duggan who popped up in the early stages as he had done so often in the past, and staved off many Carnmore attacks. In goal too Seamus Collins was having a good game and together with Jim Bishop at midfield looked most impressive in the early stages. But it was not until 13 minute that Carnmore cashed in on their superiority. And once again the move started n the half forward line and ended with Padraic Fahy scoring a goal. He followed this up with a seventeenth minute goal and then in twenty-first minute Jim Hughes scored another Carnmore goal. This was Carnmore's finest period but despite this Mellows looked composed and set up some worthwhile attacks. It was from one of these that Paddy Walsh made a magnificent eighteenth minute save that really proved the all-round ability of this Carnmore side.
In the second half Mellows playing with the gale cast caution to the wind and stormed the Carnmore defence. With three minutes to go they snatched the equalizer and soon after they scored what looked like the winning point. But even at this stage Carnmore were far from finished and Padraic Fahy once again popped up to score the equalizing point. However, this was Mellows half and they played at their very best. They even moved backs to forwards as the game wore on and stages they only had the goalie and two backs in their own half. For most of this half they were firmly entrenched in the Carnmore goal area and only for the brilliance in particular of goalie Paddy Walsh, John Hession and Billy McDonagh. Carnmore might have suffered a defeat. But for all their superiority Mellows just could not find the back of the net that is until Willie Concannon appeared on the scene. He came on as a substitute for Martin Foley who was having a fine game and proved so elusive that he scored three goals.
Mellows were in devastating form, at this stage and Carnmore could only tell if Mellows scored by looking at the size of the grin on Concannon's face. He scored a real opportunist goal in the thirteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth minutes. With Gerry Mahoney once again showing his worth up field Mellows were playing great hurling. Now at this stage Carnmore only led by 5-4 to 4-4 and Mellows closed in for the kill. But their efforts seemed doomed to failure that is until they scored a point with only three minutes to go. This produced great cheers from the small crowd which quickly turned to jeers when they went ahead with two minutes left. This left the neutral fans happy and the game ended in a draw.
Best for Carnmore who are really playing championship winning hurling now that the championships are over were goalie Paddy Walsh who made some great saves, John Hession and Billy Mc Donagh. But it is the forwards who really must take the credit for their team's fine performance. At the moment their half forward line must be the best in the county. In the full forward line Michael Hanley turned in another top class display. In the Mellows set up for a start laurels must go to Jimmy Duggan, Willie Concannon, Jim Bishop and Paddy Larkin. Up front Gerry Mahoney and Michael Walsh played well in their team's great draw.
Scorers:
Mellows: Willie Concannon (3-0), Gerry Mahoney (1-2), M Walsh (1-0), Pat Larkin (0-2) and Bernard Diviney (0-1).
Carnmore: Padraic Fahy (3-1), Jim Hughes (1-2), Sean Murphy (1-0), Martin Leonard and Michael Greaney (0-1) each
Teams:
Carnmore: Paddy Walsh, Billy Mc Donagh. Peter Fahy, J J Conneely, John Hession, John Murphy, Jim Hughes, Matty Greaney, Michael Greaney, Padraic Fahy, Martin Leonard, Michael Hanley, Roddy Kenny.