Late Cummins goal keeps promotion hopes alive

ARMAGH 1-15

GALWAY 1-15

In the end, a great result for Galway but the overall performance at the Athletic Grounds will have asked more questions than it answered as once more the very good was mixed with the very bad in almost equal measure.

Galway have to get an A1 rating for bucketfuls of courage and spirit as they turned around a 1-15 to 0-10 deficit with just 10 minutes of normal time remaining to snatch the unlikeliest of draws in a Division 2 clash that was laden with drama and curious twists.

The point salvaged by Galway at the end was an invaluable one, keeping Kevin Walsh’s side on course for an exit from Division 2 at the right end of the table, but this week as the squad goes to a training camp in Portugal, they will be looking very closely at a 25-minute spell after half-time.

Galway had shown plenty of first-half resilience to turn a 0-7 to 0-3 deficit into parity at 0-9 apiece by the time the interval whistle sounded, while the early second-half signs also looked good for them.

Within seconds of the restart, Shane Walsh had nudged Galway in front with a neat point while three minutes later, Armagh midfielder Ethan Rafferty picked up a deserved second yellow for a dangerous tackle . . . the home side looked to be in real trouble.

What followed though was 25 minutes of utter dominance from Armagh’s 14 men. Kieran McGeeney’s side won every breaking ball . . . they ran straight at the opposition in waves. . . and they bored holes in the Galway defence, kicking a series of classic scores into the bargain.

That Galway third-quarter collapse will make for interesting and painful video analysis this week while high enough up too on the warning alerts chart will be the inability of the Galway full-back line to cope with the threat of Stefan Campbell.

The Clan na nGael clubman shot a massive 1-9, including seven first-half points from play with neither Declan Kyne nor Cathal Sweeney able to cope with his off-the-ball runs and razor sharp finishing.

Due credit must be given to Campbell, who gave a forward display of Padraic Joyce dimension, ghosting into space, winning the long balls and then unerringly splitting the posts with his shots.

Maybe Galway should have bitten the bullet and pulled an extra man back to play as a frontal sweeper to try and curb a player who was ‘on fire’ from start to finish, even though on that kind of form, Campbell will trouble any defence in the country.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.