Galway pay big price for failing to take chances in league battle

Galway 1-7

 Dublin 2- 8

Mike Rafferty in Moycullen

THREE late unanswered points sealed Galway’s fate on Sunday afternoon as the home team’s unbeaten record fell against a Dublin side that were never headed in a cracking Ladies National League contest in Moycullen.

An early Sinead Ahearne goal gave the Dubs a lead they were never to relinquish and while a Roisin Leonard score levelled matters just before the break, that was as close as it got for Timmy Rabbitt’s charges from a scoring point of view.

For the duration of the contest, Galway were more than a match for the illustrious visitors, but while they enjoyed the majority of possession their only failure was in front of goal – six second half wides proving costly, particularly in the closing stages when they were chasing the game.

However, Galway could never regain parity and despite closing the gap to a point on 54 minutes, it was the All-Ireland champions who kicked on in the closing minutes to pull away for victory.

After winning their opening five games, the loss will not do any damage to a Galway side that along with Dublin, Cork and Mayo have already qualified for the Division One League semi-finals. Just an outstanding game against Donegal awaits, before the final positioning is known to decide on the pairings for the last four.

It was a point not lost on manager Rabbitte when he stressed afterwards: “Look, Dublin have set the standards. We are hurting ourselves, but the girls are going to improve dramatically, as are the other teams. We have it in our grasp to be as good as any other team in the country, but we got to be learning. We had an issue with our shooting today and it was disappointing, but that is part of the journey we are on to correct things.”

Indeed, the finishing was the only aspect of the game that was a concern as the home side looked to be the better outfit and allied to the many wides, they also hit the woodwork on three occasions.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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