Galway minors come up trumps against Donegal

Galway 2-12

Donegal 1-11

A nine-year wait for Galway minor footballers to reach the All-Ireland final came to an end at Croke Park on Sunday when the young Tribesmen saw off the stubborn challenge of Donegal in a semi-final which coughed up a series of goal chances despite the safety first approach of both teams.

Normally, we associate minors with a devil-may-care attitude and trying to play football with a sense of abandon, but defensive conservatism largely ruled the roost in the first ever encounter championship encounter between the counties at this level.

The blanket defences obviously impacted on the fluency of Sunday’s semi-final, but hardly the excitement as Galway deservedly carried the day thanks to enforcing their game plan better than Donegal. They were also the hard working outfit with the number of turnovers forced a healthy reflection of the Connacht champions’ overall industry.

Donegal possessed some fine individuals in Kieran Gallagher, Jason McGee, Niall O’Donnell, Enda McCormack and Eoghan McGettigan (first half), but lacked Galway’s overall balance and didn’t attack with the same level of penetration or pace as the winners.

Despite losing their territorial battle, Galway were more clinical in their use of possession even if they spurned a couple of great goal-scoring opportunities from the tireless Barry Goldrick in the opening half and wing forward Finian Ó Laoi early on the resumption.

They had other opportunities too with the final pass either delayed or intercepted, but Galway’s team-work was generally slicker and they were the better organised as well. Their use of the direct ball into the full forward line also caused Donegal big problems and led to the team’s opening goal.

The physically-stronger Ulster title holders had been quicker out of the blocks with early points from Niall O’Donnell (free) and Eoghan McGettigan, but they were rocked in the fifth minute when the impressive Robert Finnerty expertly finished low into the net after full forward Desmond Conneely somehow diverted the ball into his path after originally losing possession.

Conneely’s involvement in that score typified Galway’s hard work. They just never gave up and Donegal found it difficult to cope with their persistence and committed tackling. Stephen Joyce’s charges were also more efficient when they had numbers behind the ball.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune