Red appeal in the works as Loughrea too strong for Slaughtneil
Loughrea’s Cullen Killeen is consoled by Manager Tom Kelly. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Loughrea will lodge an appeal against the red card picked up by midfielder Cullen Killeen which currently sidelines him from the All-Ireland club final.
Manager Tommy Kelly was adamant about that, maintaining the Man of the Match was merely trying to 'release himself' from a stoppage time tangle with Brendan Rogers when the movement of his hurl caught the eye of referee Johnny Murphy.
"Oh 100 percent, 100 percent," said Kelly when asked if they'll be getting the paperwork ready. "It was right in front me, he was trying to release himself. He was making a run himself and Brendan Rogers got in a tangle and he just tried to release himself and it's as simple as that."
It may not, of course, be as simple as that. And Kelly's assertion that 'there is no malice in Cullen Killeen, everybody knows that', may not hold much water either, as true as it may be.
What's certain is that if the back-to-back Galway champions are stripped of their rising star performer for the January 17/18 Croke Park final against Ballygunner, they have a terrific panel to dig into.
Exhibit A, Vince Morgan, who wasn't actually listed to start but was a late replacement for county final Man of the Match Darren Shaughnessy who, according to Kelly, is recovering from 'a niggle'.
Morgan could well have been Man of the Match himself this time, troubling Loughrea's defence throughout with his directness and power, and striking the game-changing 37th minute goal.
That searing solo score left Loughrea seven points clear and while Slaughtneil, seeking to avoid six All-Ireland semi-final losses from six in the club's history, briefly got the margin back to five, Loughrea had an appetite for destruction now and reeled off nine points in a row.
Technically speaking, Ronan McManus was the forward actually drafted in for this game as Morgan did line out in the county final, before apparently being dropped and gaining that 11th hour reprieve. Still, McManus played his part too, scoring an important point as Loughrea turned the screw after the break.
Neil Keary offered further evidence of Loughrea's depth when he came on and struck three points in the final quarter, making a pressing claim for inclusion at Croke Park.
The downside for Loughrea, aside from the red card situation? All the wides they shot, 15 in total. They actually scored more in the second-half, eight, but the seven in the first-half were more impactful. In fact, nobody in Loughrea was thinking about a double digit winning margin when they led 1-9 to 0-10 at half-time. At that stage, Anthony Burns' opportunist goal in the 25th minute, when he gathered up a loose ball after a long puck-out, was the difference.
"The shot efficiency went through the roof in fairness in the second-half," said manager Kelly. "We started doing the right things at the right time with the ball. In the first-half, we probably gave away too many frees and kept them ticking along in the game.
"Out of the 10 points Slaughtneil got, they got six or seven of those from frees and they were just kind of silly ones, we touched the ball on the ground, got caught for over-carrying the ball, stuff like that. We talked about how good Slaughtneil are in the tackle and they smothered us two or three times."
Loughrea lost by a point to eventual champions Na Fianna at this stage last year. And there was a school of thought before this one that Slaughtneil, who only lost by a point to Sarsfields themselves last year, having previously given Ballygunner (2022) and Shamrocks (2020) their fill of it in previous years, might spring an upset.
On a tight, heavy pitch, perhaps Slaughtneil's physicality would simply overwhelm Loughrea?
As it turned out, Loughrea were the ones that played right on the edge, picking up five yellow cards and the red, compared to Slaughtneil's one for Meehaul McGrath's 18th-minute foul on Tiernan Killeen.
That was a significant booking because Galway forward Killeen was brilliant in the first 20 minutes. After the booking, Slaughtneil shifted Shane McGuigan across to Killeen, perhaps figuring that McGrath was dicing with a dismissal himself, and Killeen wasn't as influential.
Chrissy McKaigue wore nine for the 13-in-a-row Derry champions but lined out at full-forward and sniped two points. They didn't score enough overall though, just eight points from play, and never got a sniff of a goal.
Paul Hoban's 61st minute block for Loughrea on a Jerome McGuigan shot summed up the effort that Loughrea brought to the occasion.
Jamie Ryan was another big performer in blue, chopping a point from a sideline in the first-half. Burns, another with senior inter-county experience, took his goal well and went close with another close range pull that flew just wide.
For Slaughtneil's core of veteran performers, it was their third semi-final loss at Dublin's Parnell Park having been beaten by Ballygunner there as well as Limerick's Na Piarsaigh in 2018.
Paul McCormack backed his Slaughtneil players to 'bounce back' again and, on Loughrea, claimed that it will 'take a fair team to beat them'.
On the Killeen red card, McCormack was of the opinion that it was harsh and he supported an appeal.
"Hopefully common sense will prevail, that's the best way I can put it," said McCormack.
T Killeen 0-6 (4 frees); A Burns, V Morgan 1-1 each; J Ryan (1 sideline), N Keary 0-3 each; Caimin Killeen, M McManus, S Morgan (2 frees) 0-2 each; K Hanrahan, Cullen Killeen 0-1 each.
S Cassidy 0-8 (7 frees); C McKaigue, R O Mianain 0-2 each; C McAllister, M McGuigan, E Cassidy 0-1 each.
G O'Donoghue; P Hoban, J Coen, J Mooney; S Morgan, K Hanrahan, B Keary; I Hanrahan, Cullen Killeen; Caimin Killeen, T Killeen, J Ryan; A Burns, V Morgan, M McManus.
N Keary for McManus (45); A Kelly for I Hanrahan (53); G Maher for B Keary (57); L McInerney for Ryan (58); M Murray for V Morgan (60).
O O'Doherty; C McAllister, P McNeill, F McEldowney; R O Mianain, M McGrath, S McGuigan; C O Cianain, C O'Doherty; M McGuigan, Se McGuigan, B Rogers; E Cassidy, C McKaigue, S Cassidy.
C Coyle for C O Mianain (19-22 blood); Coyle for C O Mianain and J McGuigan for Se McGuigan (39); P McCullagh for M McGuigan (55); G Bradley for S Cassidy (55).
J Murphy (Limerick).
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