Luckless Galway men come to grief in junior final again

Kerry 3-14

Galway 0-13

IF the Galway junior footballers had not bad luck, they would have no luck at all. That was the only conclusion that could be drawn from the circumstances surrounding this 10-point defeat to Kerry in last Saturday’s national decider at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.

Yes, when Kerry, completing the five-in-a-row at this grade, found their groove in the second half, they looked to be in a different class. However, by this stage, Matt Duggan’s charges had absorbed as many setbacks as they were able to bear — the final one, an unfortunate own goal in the 34th minute that finally sucked the life out of their challenge.

Galway had kicked the opening two points of the second half through the outstanding Gary Kelly and substitute Sean Ó Currin to tie up the game at 0-8 apiece and they were well and truly in the hunt.

However, a raiding run in off the left flank by Kerry corner-forward Barry O’Dwyer provided him with the chance to punch a point. His effort lacked power and, while it cleared advancing Galway keeper Cormac Haslam, it fell short under the crossbar.

Had the ball gone over the line, it would have been a free out but retreating Galway defender Thomas Rabbitte, in the heat of the moment, sought to divert the ball away from the goal. By touching it before it crossed the line, he activated the play and a goal was awarded to Kerry. To use an old proverb, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Already, said camel was on bended knees after team captain Michael Day became unavailable to lead his team into this All-Ireland final due to holiday commitments while the Tribesmen were also forced to line out without influential centre-back Adrian Ward, who failed to recover from an injury sustained in the semi-final against Meath a week earlier.

No doubt, that game, which went to extra-time, took its toll on many of the players and where a fresh Kerry outfit, who had played the week previous, had time to prepare for a Galway side they got to see first-hand in the semi-final, the Connacht champions spent the run-in endeavouring to get players fit.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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