Galway’s strong finish puts gloss on average effort

Date Published: {J}

Galway 1-15

London 0-8

Darren Kelly in Ballinasloe

IT looked comfortable in the end but Galway didn’t shake off a determined London side last Sunday until the final quarter to secure their second win of this year’s FBD Insurance Connacht Football League.

The previous weekend’s defeat to NUI Galway effectively ruled out any hope of the Tribesmen competing for honours in this competition, but that won’t have concerned Alan Mulholland as he continued his policy of experimenting with players, making seven changes for this encounter with the Exiles.

Most notable of these was Nicky Joyce who returned to the maroon and white after not being involved in 2011 and made his presence count, registering three points, directly assisting in two more and was also involved in the move for the goal.

The green flag arrived three minutes into injury time. Garreth Bradshaw, who had the rare privilege of facing his brother Sean who was wing back for London, started and finished the move as the Moycullen centre back in an advanced role, involved Joyce and Michael Martin, before being taken down in the square by Philip Kelly.

Martin, who also brought his scoring boots with five earlier points, made no mistake with the spot kick to conclude a 10 point victory for the hosts. But with 15 minutes remaining, Galway’s lead was only four (0-11 to 0-7) as a determined London outfit, now playing with the breeze, came back into an encounter they seemed to let slip at half-time.

Against the elements, Padraig McGoldrick opened the scoring for the visitors after just 47 seconds, added another free two minutes later while midfielder Mark Gottsche also found the target for a 0-3 to 0-2 lead after 10 minutes.

Joyce and Eric Monahan registered Galway’s scores but they started to seize control during the second quarter as a mixture of London unforced errors and quick counter attacking from the home team yielded seven unanswered points for a 0-9 to 0-3 interval advantage.

Bane opened the purple patch with a free and one from play following a Joyce pass, Martin sent over his first placed ball, Joyce got another, Micheal Boyle got on the scoreboard before Bane conclude his hat-trick before the break.

In fairness to Galway, they could have been much further ahead. Boyle set up Gary Sice but the Corofin man’s shot was blocked by Even Byrne while a Paul Conroy pass nearly yielded dividends for Bane in the 20th minute.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.