Walsh in top form as Galway finally clinch promotion

Galway  0-14

Kildare  0-13

GALWAY may have well and truly crawled over the finish line in the end, but the most important fact from Sunday’s slender victory over a second-string Kildare side was that promotion back to Division 1 was secured after a six-year spell in the second tier.

Make no mistake, had this game been gone on for another five or six minutes then Kildare would surely have got the additional scores to break Galway’s hearts, such was the momentum that was in their favour and the general sense of unease that swept over this Galway team as the clock ticked towards full time.

The large crowd were feeling it too, having watched Kildare slowly but surely chip away at Galway’s lead, which looked assured at 0-13 to 0-8 with 14 minutes to play. Having made 14 changes to the side that had secured promotion a week earlier, Cian O’Neill decided to throw some of his frontline stars into the mix late on and they had the desired effect.

As Galway retreated and desperately tried to close off the avenues from which a goal chance could be created, Niall Kelly sparked a comeback with an excellent point from play. Until then, midfielder Fionn Dowling had been the main source of their scores, and he added two more as Kildare piled forward.

Thankfully for the home side, Shane Walsh once more came up with a spark of magic, bursting through the heart of the Kildare defence on 64 minutes and edging Galway back into a three point advantage. Kelly and Cathal McNally kicked late scores for Kildare to up the tension once more, but Galway hung on for the win to deny Meath a chance to overtake them.

Despite the palpitations suffered, this was a deserved outcome for a side who had already defeated Fermanagh, Clare, Derry, and Down impressively, while also drawing with Cork, and having done so for the majority of the campaign without their marquee forward, Damien Comer, who is not expected to make it back in time for the divisional final despite showing signs of improvement.

Kevin Walsh has developed much-needed depth to the squad, and while there are still obvious areas of the side that need work and attention, Galway are a hard team to defend against when in full flow. They are no longer reliant on star names to provide big scoring totals to secure wins, as evidenced once more by the fact that eight different players, including all six starting forwards, got their names on the scoresheet.

Galway made just one change to the team that saw off Down, with David Walsh replacing the suspended Declan Kyne, with Michael Farragher retained at centre half back to form a very attack-minded half back line alongside Gary O’Donnell and Johnny Heaney.

Farragher was involved in Galway’s first meaningful attack on five minutes after a very nervy opening few minutes, picking out Seán Armstrong with a good pass, but Eamonn Brannigan’s shot drifted harmlessly wide. Before that, Kildare had opened the scoring when Dowling curled over a left-footed effort within 35 seconds of the start, before Ben McCormack was denied at close range by a smart save by Rory Lavelle.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.