Galway’s late surge eases relegation fears

GALWAY 2-14

ARMAGH 1-13

THE first day of summertime . . . and with it came a welcome shaft of light for Galway’s beleaguered footballers in their bid to avoid the darker dungeons of Division 3 fare next season.

Again the spirits were raised but again the hearts stopped as Galway initially appeared to be powering their way to a comfortable victory before an audacious second half comeback almost swung the match the way of Armagh.

A slightly disappointing crowd of about 2,500 – Mother’s Day and the hurlers playing in Limerick probably were factors – made their way to Tuam Stadium on a benign spring Sunday and when Galway carved open the Armagh defence twice in the opening four minutes for goal strikes, the home support were in full voice.

Armagh did battle back spiritedly in that opening half, but yet by the time Longford referee Derek Fahy sounded the interval whistle, Galway were still five ahead at 2-8 to 0-9, and playing into the town goal for the second half, it seemed like happy times.

Galway though don’t do comfortable victories and ironically, after Armagh were reduced to 14 men early in the second half, the balance of the match swung dramatically in the direction of the northern side.

Instead of Galway pushing on, it was Armagh that seized the initiative, their recovery explosion ignited by a well struck Tony Kernan goal in the 50th minute – inside the last 10 minutes they had drawn level and seemed poised to strike for victory.

The turning point of the match came in the 59th minute when for the second time during the half, the Armagh forwards cut through the home defence with Oisin McKeever seemingly destined to hit the net, but Galway keeper Tom Healy advanced bravely to bring off a brilliant – and what turned out to be – a match winning save.

Armagh though had worked up a real sweat in that first 25 minutes of the second half and Galway settled in the closing stages with James Kavanagh, Paul Conroy, Michael Farragher and Thomas Flynn delivering the winning points – in the end a difference of four between the sides, but for a crucial period of that second half, it was a match that could have gone either way.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.