Mixed bag from Galway not enough for victory

Louth 2-9

Galway 0-15

 It could have been a humiliation at first, then it should have been a victory, but in the end it was a heartbreaking draw in Drogheda on Sunday for a Galway side with their name tag still firmly attached to one of the Division 2 relegation places.

Two points from this match was an absolute prerequisite for both Galway and Louth, but given the failure of either side to drive on from positions of superiority at different stages of this tie, they seem likely to be meeting again next season in the more humble surrounds of Division 3.

It’s a hard station being either involved, supporting or recording the path of Galway this season. They badly needed a win to build on the unexpected success over Down, but they spurned chance after chance in the second-half to make this game safe.

For the first half-hour of this match, it appeared as if Galway were on the point of enduring a rout similar to the one inflicted on them by Laois a couple of weeks back . . . in that segment of play, they had scored just one point, as they trailed by 1-5 to 0-1.

It was, to put it bluntly, dire fare from Galway in that first 30 minutes. Louth dominated midfield, reducing Galway to just occasional attacks where they lacked directness and firepower against a home side that looked set to power onto victory.

Ten minutes before half-time, Louth centre back Paul Crilly cruised through the Galway defence before nestling the ball in the corner of Tom Healy’s net for a score that came on the back of points from Colm Judge, Brian White, Paddy Keenan and Andy McDonnell.

Galway — again playing without a full forward — barely caused the Louth defence to break into a sweat, their only score of the first half hour coming from a Michael Martin free.

Two wisps of late first half opportunism gave the small entourage of travelling fans some hope. On one of the rare occasions when Paul Conroy was positioned near the Louth square, he pulled off a fine catch before turning and pointing — two minutes later Bradshaw also hit the target from play and Galway went in at the interval trailing by 1-5 to 0-3.

 For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.