Kinvara well off the pace against lively Mayo rivals

Kinvara 2-10

Kevin Egan in Athleague

KINVARA’S great season came to a crashing halt on Sunday in Athleague when they became just the second Galway club to lose a Connacht intermediate club hurling fixture, following in the footsteps of Ballinderreen two seasons ago.

On that occasion it was also Tooreen who dished out the defeat, though the similar margins of defeat (they beat Ballinderreen by four points, just one away from Sunday’s five-point gap) is a quite deceptive statistic. The East Mayo club were that bit better two years ago, but on Sunday they were vastly superior – as Kinvara manager Michael Helebert acknowledged after the game.

“For the middle of November, 21 points is good scoring. You can’t take it away from them, we’re disappointed but they were worthy winners” he admitted.

“The gap at half time left us with a bit to do. We weren’t playing well but we started getting there, only it was too much to carry in the end. They were super fit in fairness to them, they’re not a bad team and fully deserve to be champions, but I’m proud of our lads, they battled to the bitter end and we can’t ask any more” he added.

Some observers might jump to the conclusion that Kinvara are the instant front runners for relegation in 2020, but Helebert suggested that Tooreen are a cut above a lot of the teams his charges will meet in next year’s championship.

“This is preparing us for senior next year. Intermediate in Galway is at one level and when you come up to Senior B, you’re at another level” he said.  “In fairness to Tooreen, they brought it nearly to Senior A, and that’s the standard we’ve to get to in time for next February or March.”

Can they do it, in his opinion? “These are a good bunch of lads, we’d have no fear about that, they just had an off day today. We’ll drive on and look forward to next year.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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