Galway stay on target for big under-age treble

Galway 3-14

Dublin 4-5

GALWAY minor ladies footballers qualified for the All-Ireland final against Cork on the August Bank Holiday Monday after a dominant second half last Saturday.

Two Leanne Coen goals and an excellent Niamh Daly strike allowed Brian O’Donovan’s charges to overturn an interval deficit to become Galway’s third team in a national decider.

The under 14s are already All-Ireland champions while the under 16s have their showdown with the Rebelettes next Wednesday (July 28) having both beaten Dublin at the penultimate stage. And even though the older group were made work harder, Galway under 18s also delivered.

A forceful crosswind made life difficult but the Leinster champions utilised the slight advantage to pressure the Galway defence. Dublin led 1-4 to 0-6 at half-time but will be disappointed at not establishing a bigger margin, even if the goal they did score could easily have been avoided.

Coen opened the scoring for Galway after winning a free before Niamh Sheehan hit the Dublin response.  The Ballinteer St. Johns’ full forward scored four goals the last day against Kildare but she found Menlough/Skehana’s Kate Screene a much tougher adversary.

It was the runs from the Dublin half forwards that put Galway on the back foot and the signs were ominous as players like Jennifer Dunne and Caoimhe O’Connor attacked through the channels. But in keeper Laura Hession, Galway had a brave shot stopper.

Danielle Lawless and Aoibhe Bell combined for the first goal opportunity only for the St. Gabriel’s number one to make the save.  And on 13 minutes, Kate Sullivan was also denied by Hession.

Significantly, Galway were taking their scoring chances, going 0-3 to 0-1 up.  The Tribesgirls only had one first half wide and Daly did have a low effort blocked by Erin Healy. But Dublin wasted point-scoring opportunities though they also forced another Hession save and were denied by the crossbar.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.