Galway minors survive late scare in staying unbeaten

GALWAY 0-15

MAYO   1-9

GALWAY booked their place in the first ever Connacht minor football final to be contested at the U17 age group with a far from comfortable victory over the old enemy Mayo in the sweltering heat of Tuam Stadium last Friday evening.

Having put up big totals in seeing off both Roscommon and Sligo, Donal Ó Fátharta’s side were expected to be too strong for a Mayo team who had already lost heavily themselves to Roscommon, but on this occasion Mayo gave Galway a real fright in the final quarter and but for some poor finishing, they could well have pulled off a real shock.

It was inevitable that in the conditions Galway were unable to maintain an excellent scoring rate that saw them kick fourteen points, all but one from play, by the 42nd minute, and Mayo’s desire to avoid elimination gave them a purpose and drive which seemed to catch the young Tribesmen by surprise late on.

Four wides in succession, though, really hurt Tomas Morley’s young guns when the game was most definitely still there for them and when substitute Ciaran Mylett was sent off not long after coming on, it looked as though Galway’s four point lead would be enough – but still there were moments of danger to contend with in the final minutes.

Galway full back Seán Black had to be alert to deny Conor Dunleavy with a well-timed block when a goal seemed likely, and then Liam Donoghue cracked a shot off the butt of the post in injury time. Despite just scoring once in the last twenty minutes Galway survived, and they will surely have learnt a valuable lesson going forward.

Attacking with style and creativity is what this Galway side do very well and by the quarter hour mark they had established a lead of 0-6 to 0-2 with some classy scores. Both Moycullen’s Daniel Cox and Corofin’s Matthew Cooley were to the fore in the inside line, with Cooley kicking three elegant points after collecting sharp, accurate deliveries, while Mayo were struggling badly with their restarts.

Right wing back Ryan Monaghan kicked the home side’s only free of the evening early on and Galway got plenty of go forward ball from both flanks as Cathal Sweeney, on the other wing, powered down the left to kick a superb score and the Salthill-Knocknacarra youngster was in flying form throughout.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.