Sylane boss Ronan Higgins: Championship restructure best thing for Galway hurling
SYLANE looked to be facing defeat when they trailed Abbeyknockmoy by three points after 43 minutes of their Premier Junior Hurling final. However, Ronan Higgins’ side produced a superb late rally to turn the contest around and secure a narrow victory.
The decisive moment came on 48 minutes when Keelan Creaven found the net; his goal ultimately proved the difference between the sides.
“I'm running out of words at this stage, it isn’t every day you win a county final and we won it the hard way. We were disappointed with the way we went down last year, the lads went out to prove a point and they did it in style, finishing strong.
"I can’t put it into words what it means to our club, family and friends, it’s massive,” Sylane hurling manager Ronan Higgins.
Following the restructure of the Premier Intermediate Championship, Sylane needed to finish among the top two in their group in last year’s Intermediate campaign to secure a place in the new competition.
However, they narrowly missed out after suffering defeats to Meelick-Eyrecourt and Skehana-Mountbellew/Moylough, both of whom reached the Premier Intermediate semi-finals this year.
Despite Sylane missing out on a place in the Premier Intermediate ranks, Higgins has no complaints about the championship's restructuring.
“The club came to me and asked for my opinion on the restructure, and I agreed with it. It’s right for Galway hurling, we regrouped, came back, won a county final, and now we can push on.
"There’s a couple of minors that helped us all year, they’ll start breaking into this team and they’re breaking into the team at a higher level of hurling where we think we deserve to be,” concluded Higgins.