Galway Youths bid to land third Inter League crown

Soccer Wrap with Mike Rafferty

The chance to play in a national final is a rare honour and for the Galway Youth squad this Saturday in Eamonn Deacy Park at 2pm presents an opportunity to secure victory in the FAI Youth Inter-League final when they face the Cork League.

The squad has come through their campaign unbeaten as they try and follow in the footsteps of household local names who have succeeded in previously winning this title. Under the management of Ollie Neary and Damien Brennan, they saw off the challenges of the Mayo League (2-0) and the Inishown League (4-0) in the qualifying rounds before securing a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Wexford League in the last four at the beginning of February.

On that occasion, Hibernians’ Alex Murphy scored direct from a corner for the equaliser, before Maree/Oranmore substitute Killian Bolly set up Knocknacarra’s John Jordan for the late winner.

Speaking to City Sport this week, Neary acknowledged their performances to date in getting to the final and is looking forward to the occasion.

“Our semi-final win over Wexford was a real test of character in that we came from behind and kept working hard and were then rewarded with the late winner. Conditions were not good that day with the elements not allowing any free-flowing football.

“We have home advantage for the final and all the lads have played in Eamonn Deacy Park previously, so that is in our favour. We trained twice this week, and Damien and I have huge faith in the squad and just hope that they perform on the day.

“We are aware of the abilities of Cork, and they were pretty impressive in defeating Waterford 4-1 in their semi-final. We just hope that we can rise to the occasion and do the league proud,” he said.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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