Galway get a fright from Banner rivals

Date Published: 13-Jul-2010

Galway 1-13

Clare 1-11

Eoghan Cormican

In Corofin

JOB done. Nothing more, nothing less. The Galway senior camogie side did what they had to do in fending off a stern Banner challenge at a rain lashed Corofin, but boy, did they make hark work of it.

Trailing by a point with less than four minutes of normal time remaining in this riveting contest, the Tribeswomen-not for the first time this year-were forced to dig deep to secure the two championship points on offer, and in the process, bring Clare’s interest in this years championship to an end.

Far too often in the past, Galway have emerged on the wrong side ofgames such as this, but in their most recent victories over Wexford and Cork, they have shown a steely mental resolve and a refusal to buckle when the going gets tough, factors which were once again evident in the closing stages of this All Ireland championship encounter.

That said, manager Noel Finn and his background team will not be overly satisfied with the performance on Saturday as in the cold light of day, if Galway are to be considered real pretenders for the O’Duffy Cup, games such as this should be won with a lot more to spare.

Credit to Clare though, doggedly determined throughout, they made life extremely difficult for Galway, but a collection of terrible striking, poor decision making and a lack of composure from the women in the maroon and white ensured this tie came right down to the wire.

Galway started brightly, outscoring the home side by four points to one in the opening eleven minutes.

Orla Kilkenny hit a beauty after just 14 seconds, before Veronica Curtin struck Galway’s second a minute later. The excellent Deirdre Murphy, who certainly gave Ann Marie Hayes the run around on Saturday, pegged one back for Clare. Aislinn Connolly (free) and the lively Curtin eased Galway into a three point advantage and all early signs points towards a comfortable Galway win. Not so.

By the quarter hour mark the sides were level, following three unanswered points from Deirdre Murphy and Claire McMahon (2). Indeed the home side will rue the fact that they were not further ahead at this juncture, after Fiona Lafferty’s incisive run drew an excellent stop from Susan Earner in the Galway goals.

Certainly the fact the Lafferty was allowed to waltz past the challenge of three Galway defenders will be a point of concern when the squad analyse the game this week.

No fewer than four times the teams were level in the first period with the sides tied at 0-7 apiece at the break. Curtin, Connolly and an a superb strike from Brenda Hanney brought the visitors tally to 0-7, but three successful efforts from the stick of Claire McMahon ensured parity was restored.

Initially in the second half it appeared that Galway would finally break free from the shackles of their Clare opponents when Tara Rutledge goaled after ‘keeper Susan Vaughan could only parry a long range effort from Hanney.

Throughout the championship campaign the third quarter has proved Galway’s forte, but that was not be the case this time round. Consequently, Clare were thrown a lifeline when a long Chloe Morey free was eventually finished to the net by Claire McMahon.