Dublin side continue their habit of coming out on the right side of cliffhangers with another late, late show
Na Fianna's Brian Ryan celebrates at the final whistle after his side's All-Ireland club semi-final win over Loughrea. Photograph: Ken Sutton/InphoIn every argument, somebody must have the last word. After more than an hour and of pawing and scratching and falling over each other, Na Fianna produced a move that spanned most of the field and ended with AJ Murphy unmarked inside the D with just 10 seconds left in stoppage time.
Loughrea will wonder how it got away from them. In the first half they were on top all over the field and at one stage hit five points without reply. In a game where scoring was difficult it seemed to cause them less trouble than their opponents and there was a spell in the second quarter when they could have put themselves in a commanding position. Na Fianna, though, held tough.
Loughrea had much the better of the first half and a four-point lead at the break, 0-10 to 0-6, undervalued their superiority. They were sharper and more aggressive and moved the ball with a clearer purpose than the Dublin champions. How the game went for him was a crude metaphor for Na Fianna’s performance. Though he got on the ball a little more after half-time, nothing was coming off. He tried to lob the Loughrea goalkeeper with an audacious shot from about 40 metres, but it missed by a good bit and with his next two possessions he was blocked down. A player of his class might go a month without being blocked down.
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