First half paves way for Loughrea
Champions impress before Gort fightback
Loughrea3-26
Gort3-21
By Stephen Glennon
At Kenny Park
A five-point Senior Hurling Championship win is always a strong result, but county champions Loughrea may still feel disappointed that Gort finished so close to them at the finish given the victors led by 11 points at half-time in Saturday's Group 1 tie in Athenry.
Tommy Kelly’s outfit arguably played their best hurling of their 2026 campaign to date, bamboozling Gort with their astute passing, superb movement and clinical finishing up front in their periods of ascendancy.
In addition, Loughrea’s ability to overturn Gort’s puckouts in primary and secondary phases, particularly in the first period, stripped their opponents of possession time and time again.
By half-time, Loughrea led 3-15 to 1-10 and, while Gort rallied admirably in the second half, the champions still had enough in reserve to ensure they had the points wrapped up and a place secured in the preliminary quarter-finals, where they will play Castlegar.
Loughrea’s first goal set the tone in the fifth minute – the ball worked forward from a short puckout and concluding with Tiernan Killeen setting up Jamie Ryan for a neat finish to put them 1-2 to 0-3 ahead.
A foul on Darren Shaughnessy inside the large rectangle provided Loughrea’s Johnny Coen with the opportunity to net from the resulting penalty on 10 minutes and he didn’t disappoint, 2-5 to 0-4.
Loughrea’s third goal arrived on 21 minutes – this time Killeen delivering a superb crossfield ball to pick out Anthony Burns and he fired his effort beyond Gort’s Gavin Lally to extend their advantage to 3-10 to 1-7.
To add to those three goals, Loughrea also registered 15 points in the opening period and, all combined, that was a match-winning score in itself.
Jamie Ryan accounted for six of those points (five from frees) while Cullen Killeen, Darren Shaughnessy, Caimin Killeen, Shane Morgan (65 and play), the excellent Joe Mooney, Jack Shaughnessy, Paul Hoban and Burns were also on the scoresheet.
For Gort’s part, they started brightly, pointing through Aiden Helebert (two) and Greg Lally in the first five minutes, but only added two more scores in the first quarter through Lally, a ninth- minute point and a 13th minute goal, the latter following good work from Helebert.
In the second quarter, Helebert (play and two frees), Kaelen Higgins and Lally (two) contributed points, but it wasn’t sufficient to keep pace with a rampant Loughrea.
Yet, Andy Coen’s men never gave up the fight and, in the second half, outscored their opponents 2-11 to 11 points. Nathan Gill, Dylan Murphy (two), Jack Linnane, Helebert (play and two frees), substitute Lorcan Walsh and Greg Lally (three frees) all raised white flags, while Jason O’Donoghue and Paddy Commins netted the goals on 56 and 59 minutes respectively.
One wonders what if those Gort goals had come earlier, but, as it was, Loughrea diligently kept the scoreboard ticking over throughout the second half with points from Jamie Ryan (two frees), Shane Morgan (two), Burns, Darren Shaughnessy, and replacements Vince Morgan (two), Shane O’Brien and Martin McManus (two).
Loughrea now face a tricky assignment in Castlegar while Gort renew their fierce rivalry with St Thomas’ in the preliminary quarter-finals in a fortnight.
LOUGHREA: G. Loughnane; P. Hoban (0-1), J. Coen (1-0, penalty), G. Maher; B. Keary, S. Morgan (0-4, 0-1 65), J. Mooney (0-1); I. Hanrahan, Cullen Killeen (0-1); Caimin Killeen (0-1), T. Killeen, J. Ryan (1-8, 0-3 frees); J. Shaughnessy (0-1), Darren Shaughnessy (0-2), A. Burns (1-2). Subs: S. O’Brien (0-1), for Keary, 42 mins; V. Morgan (0-2), for Caimin Killeen, 42 mins; M. McManus (0-2), for J. Shaughnessy, 50 mins; E. Coleman, for Burns (temporary), 55 mins; Dylan Shaughnessy, for Hanrahan, 60+1 mins.
GORT: Gavin Lally; J. O’Donoghue (1-0), I. Neilan, L. Cooley; N. Gill (0-1), B. O’Donovan, E. Cooley; K. Higgins (0-1), E. Killeen; P. Commins (1-0), A. Helebert (0-8, 0-4 frees), Greg Lally (1-7, 0-3 frees); D. Murphy (0-2), J. Linnane (0-1), J. Grealish. Subs: L. Walsh (0-1), for Killeen, 45 mins; R. Maher, for Cooley, 48 mins; D. Grealish, for Helebert (temporary), 50 mins.
REFEREE: Kerril Wade.
HERALD SPORT MAN OF THE MATCH:
Joe Mooney (Loughrea).