Galway rise from the dead to earn replay

Galway 5-16

Kilkenny  3-22

FOR a team to fight back from ten points down with just seven minutes of normal time remaining and secure a draw is an incredible feat by any stretch of the imagination. To do it against the greatest hurling county in the country, that is simply phenomenal.

Galway’s hurlers, though, have had a tendency, on occasion, to flirt with the weird and the wonderful but, even at that, the Tribesmen’s script for this Leinster SHC semi-final showdown against Brian Cody’s Kilkenny must have been acquired from the same suppliers as Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

In any event, trailing Kilkenny 3-20 to 2-13, it looked as if the game was up for Anthony Cunningham’s charges, who, despite the scoreline, had been extremely competitive for 53 of the previous 63 minutes. Indeed, by the end of the third quarter, the Westerners held a 2-13 to 2-12 advantage.

What occurred over the final quarter though beggared belief as Kilkenny built up a 10-point lead and then, uncharacteristically – does anyone ever recall such an instance before? – had that commanding lead wiped out by three late goals from the spirited Tribesmen. And the excitement didn’t end there.

Although this pulsating contest was, by now, well into injury-time, there was still enough seconds left on the clock for two of the greats of the game, Henry Shefflin and Joe Canning, to trade points of a fantastical nature in the mother and father of all finishes.

On parity at 1-9 apiece at the interval, the scene had been set when Galway took the lead – 2-13 to 2-12 – as the third quarter came to a close. First imposing sub Jonathan Glynn had his jersey tugged by Brian Kennedy as he pulled the trigger on goal and Canning, as he tends to, converted the 51st minute penalty.

Moments later, Canning, after a timid sideline cut, pointed at the second attempt from open play to give Galway the lead but what transpired next was reminiscent of the Kilkenny team that had dominated the hurling landscape under Cody for a decade or so with the Cats hitting 1-8 without reply.

TJ Reid struck the 54th minute equaliser from a free – one of a few 50/50 decisions that went against Galway – before Eoin Larkin, man of the match Richie Hogan (2), substitute Tommy Walsh, Reid again – with one from play and another from a free – and substitute Aidan Fogarty added further scores.

Full match report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.