Referee Johnny Murphy issued a straight red card in stoppage time and, as things stand, Cullen Killen will miss next month’s All-Ireland club final against Ballygunner
Loughrea manager Tommy Kelly says they’ll appeal the nightmare red card that rules Cullen Killeen out of the All-Ireland final.
The teenage midfielder was Man of the Match at Parnell Park in Sunday’s semi-final victory over Derry and Ulster champions Slaughtneil, but blotted his copybook with a stoppage time dismissal.
Experienced referee Johnny Murphy reckoned that Killeen, brother of club and county star Tiernan, lashed out with the hurl after a tangle with Derry great Brendan Rogers.
Back-to-back Galway champions Loughrea were 14 points clear at that stage and on the verge of a perfect afternoon.
They’d turned on the style in the second-half to secure their first final since losing to Shamrocks in 2007.
But as things stand they’ll be missing Killeen for the January 17/18 final against 2022 champions Ballygunner due to suspension.
Asked if Loughrea will appeal, a clearly frustrated Kelly said: “Oh 100 per cent, 100 per cent. He was my Man of the Match there today, he was fantastic. He was absolutely outstanding.
“The poor young lad is only 19 years of age. He’s in absolute bits there, the chance to play in an All-Ireland final with your club (gone). There’s no bigger day than with your own and with your club.”
Kelly said he got a perfect view of the incident which occurred off the ball in front of the main stand.
He said: “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. There is no malice in Cullen Killeen, yee all know that, everybody knows that.”
Loughrea at least have a deep panel to dig into if the ban sticks.
Vince Morgan struck the 37th minute goal that put daylight between the teams.
He was powerful and direct all afternoon and could easily have been Man of the Match himself – despite being a late addition to the lineup for county final Man of the Match Darren Shaughnessy.
Kelly said Shaughnessy has a ‘niggle’ which he’s recovering from.
It wasn’t always certain that Loughrea would win, let alone by a double digit margin.
They blasted 15 wides over the hour with seven of those coming in a first-half they just about edged, 1-9 to 0-10.
Slaughtneil were chasing a first semi-final win after five previous defeats and the 13-times Derry champions got stuck in.
Six of their 10 points in the first-half came from Shea Cassidy frees as they piled on the pressure and provoked a reaction.
Crucially for Loughrea, they were able to raise it a couple of levels after the restart.
Morgan’s goal was decisive, lifting them from four to seven points clear. It was a cracker too as he darted in from the left before firing across the goalkeeper.
Slaughtneil, beaten narrowly by Sarsfields, Ballygunner and Shamrocks in their previous three semi-finals, got it going again briefly.
Mark McGuigan, Shea Cassidy and Eamon Cassidy struck points to get the gap back to five at the three-quarter mark.
But Loughrea took it up to warp speed in the final 15 minutes or so, reeling off nine points without response.
Jamie Ryan hit two in that period, capping a great game, while sub Neil Keary made his case for a final place with three scores.
