Senior Championship exit for St Jarlath’s first time out

A LIGHTER, physically much less powerful St Jarlath’s team put in an hour of honest effort against St Muredach’s in this Connacht Colleges Senior A football quarter-final last Wednesday but they were fighting a losing battle almost all the way.
Although the Tuam school’s full-back line worked hard and could not be faulted for commitment to their man-to-man marking duties, they were under huge pressure from the start of the game, with two of Ballina’s three best players in their full-forward line: John Timlin, scorer of 1-8 (1-5 from play), and Luke Doherty, scorer of 2-1.
St Jarlath’s captain Pádraig Neenan did his best to hold the half-back line together but his two midfielders could not really be expected to help in the defensive effort as they were themselves up against an outstanding opponent in Ballina’s big, high-fielding and hard-running powerhouse of a player, Jordan Flynn.