Tough luck as Galway fall short in thrilling tie with Mayo

Galway 3-13

By DARREN KELLY AT TUAM STADIUM

BASED on early results in this year’s Connacht under-20 football championship, Galway and Mayo probably set up the perfect dress rehearsal for a provincial final last Wednesday as the green and red prevailed in this thrilling contest.

Darragh Beirne’s two-pointer on 59 minutes was the winner, giving Peadar Gardiner’s team their second win. Despite a first loss, Galway showed character to recover on two occasions.

And admittedly, one or two breaks went against them, especially when Ciarán McDonagh appeared to be fouled just when the final whistle was blown.

“Any day you lose to Mayo is not a good day,” acknowledged manager Derek Savage. “I felt we were in a winning position. The lads responded really well in the middle of the second half and really asked a lot of questions of Mayo.  We got ahead and we just didn’t finish out the game.”

But while we can dissect certain decisions, it doesn’t hide that Mayo nailed big scores over a 60 minute spell full of twists and turns that was the type of game Jim Gavin and his football review committee were dreaming about when they revolutionised the game this winter.

Galway enjoyed the better of the early exchanges and their patience paid off inside 60 seconds when Seán Dunne’s cross field delivery fell into the hands of Seán O’Connor, who split the posts for a two-point head start.

Savage’s side built a five-point advantage by the quarter hour even if Padraic Godwin needed to block a Cathal Keaveney attempt. Éanna Monaghan and Colm Costello converted frees but Niall Hurley, Tom Lydon and Josh Carey left the deficit at 0-4 to 0-3 on 13 minutes.

But in a contest full of crunching blows, Galway struck the first straight after. Mark Mannion strolled down the left before finding O’Connor. The Maigh Cuilinn winger spotted Monaghan to his left and the 2022 All-Ireland winning joint captain hit low at the posts.

Keeper Conor Meaney got a touch but despite the best efforts of Rio Mortimer, it crossed the line for the game’s first goal. O’Connor played another into the corner 60 seconds later which Dunne retrieved before creating a scoring position and the hosts were 1-5 to 0-3 ahead.

With the wind, it was set up for Galway to dominate but they appeared to switch off as Mayo got back into contention.  Mortimer pushed forward to create two scores for Oisin Cronin and Paul Gilmore.

Pictured: Galway's Ciarán Mulhern on the attack against Paul Gilmore of Mayo during Wednesday's Connacht U-20 football championship tie at Tuam Stadium. Photo: David Cunniffe.