Super-sub Seoighe pulls it out of the fire for Galway

Galway 2-11

Armagh 1-12

THEY aren’t too many people present in Tuam Stadium last Sunday ever likely to forget this game. They won’t remember the chill the weather brought to their bones, but they will recall the final five minutes.

Six points down with 10 minutes of normal time to be played, it looked curtains for Galway. But sport can through you many curveballs, but there’s no telling what outcome is in store for your team when such a fate transpires. Luckily for Galway, Sunday was one of those special days.

The competition for places in the Galway squad is fierce with a new management team to impress, and Mairead Seoighe did her claims for a starting place the world of good with a truly exceptional cameo substitute appearance. The Clonbur forward spent roughly eight minutes on the pitch and scored two goals.

The game clock was on the 59th minute when Seoighe grabbed her first major to leave the scoreline 1-12 to 1-11 in Armagh’s favour, and had stretched into its third minute of added time when she produced her piece of brilliance. Armagh goalkeeper Caroline O’Hare picked the ball from the back of the net, kicked it out and referee Kevin Corcoran blew the final whistle. It really was the most remarkable of finishes to a game.

Both strikes had serious venom behind them with a few Armagh defenders impairing Seoighe’s view, but each time O’Hare was left with little chance of repelling them. It was a testament to Galway’s fighting spirit overall that they kept plugging away.

They were fighting an uphill battle from the 18th minute after centre-forward Dora Gorman was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Niamh Marley, but manager Stephen Glennon couldn’t but be elated after the final whistle all factors considered.

“It’s a testament to some of the fitness work that Mike Comer and Richard McNicholas have done with the team. It probably stood to them there on a heavy pitch. It wasn’t easy, I suppose the players were trying to cover ground and covers players who weren’t their own.

“They just found some character and some steal from somewhere. It’s just unbelievable, it was one of those moments in sport you kind of live for. You might never have a moment again where you turn a game right on its head in a couple of minutes deep into injury time,” Glennon said.

Glennon made five changes from the side which defeated Monaghan. In came Fabienne Cooney, Sarah Conneally, Lisa Gannon, Ciana Ní Churraoin and Lucy Hannon; out went Shauna Molloy, Geraldine Conneally, Olivia Divilly, Mairead Seoighe and Emma Reaney.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.