There was heartbreak for Barna GAA’s senior team who were narrowly defeated by Killererin after extra time in the first round of the championship at Corofin on Sunday.
Barna, who played the better football for much of this exciting encounter, were denied at the death when Tom Curran had a shot at goal miraculously saved off the line by Alan Keane with just seconds remaining on the clock in the second period of extra-time.
The final score was Barna 0-13 Killererin 1-12.
Despite monsoon-like conditions beforehand and heavy downpours during the match, Barna started brightly with points from Brian Conneely, Robbie Curran and Paddy Kennedy putting them 0-3 to 0-1 up after just six minutes.
Killererin began to get the better of exchanges and had carved out a 0-5 to 0-7 advantage at half-time with the Barna scores coming from Tom Curran (free) and Stephen Delaney.
Barna knew they had the aid of a strong enough breeze in the second half and so wouldn’t have been too worried at being two points in arrears at the break.
Pat Fallon’s men hit the ground running soon after the restart as Eoin McDonagh, Donal Feeney, Jason Lyons, Paddy Kennedy and Tom Curran all chalked up scores as Barna hit five unanswered points in a row.
Tom Curran hit another free to cancel out a Shane Hughes effort and Barna were leading by three heading into the home stretch but Killererin rallied and hit three points on the trot to force extra time.
Paddy Kennedy gave Barna the lead in the first period of extra time but it was a first goal by Gearóid Smith that proved decisive.
Barna battled to the end and almost snatched a win at the death with Tom Curran’s goal chance but Killererin hung on.
Barna will now play Naomh Anna Leitir Mór in round two.
Meanwhile, an under strength junior team lost to Moycullen on Monday evening. The lads battled hard but with so many players unavailable it was always going to be a struggle. The final score was Barna 1-8 Moycullen 1-14.
