Galway U20 footballers secure place in knockout stages with victory over Sligo

Olan Kelly and Vinnie Gill impressed in defence; Patrick Keaney worked hard in midfield; while Ciaran Mulhern and Ross Coen stood out in attack for the men in maroon and white.

Similar to the Leitrim game, Eoinín Ó Cualáin made an impact off the bench once again, scoring 1-1 in Wednesday night’s victory.

Galway face Mayo next Wednesday evening in round five of the Connacht U-20 Championship at MacHale Park in Castlebar. A win will see Galway advance directly to the provincial final, while a defeat or draw will see them play in the semi-final.

Johnson made one change from his side that defeated Roscommon and Leitrim in the opening two rounds. Brian Carroll, the brother of Roscommon goalkeeper Conor, stepped in to replace the injured Cillian Walsh between the posts.

Galway led 0-11 to 0-5 at the interval, with Kevin Johnson’s side producing an impressive display in the final 10 minutes of the opening period to go in six points ahead.

Sligo dominated possession in the early stages of the first-half but were unable to make it count. From the throw-in, they retained the ball and opened the scoring through Adam Feeney after two minutes.

Referee Ian Monaghan penalised Sligo for not releasing the ball, and Galway senior star Mikey Mulryan converted the resulting two-point free. Feeney added his second point before Cian Raftery delivered a clever dink pass to Richard McGrath, who finished calmly in front of the posts. Two Eamon O’Mahony frees and another from Feeney had Sligo 0-5 to 0-4 ahead after 20 minutes, despite a superb outside-of-the-boot effort from Galway’s Ross Coen in that spell.

However, the hosts responded with the next seven points. Matthew Collins split the posts twice, Ciaran Mulhern chipped in on the scoreboard after a brilliant 60-metre run, while Shay McGlinchey and Coen added two-pointers to put Galway in a strong position at the break.

Sligo, knowing their championship hopes were on the line, emerged a different side after half-time. Galway struggled to secure primary possession in the middle third from their own kickouts. The Yeats County struck the first six points of the second half through Conor Walsh, Matthew Walsh, Eamon Keane, and three white flags from Aaron Lang levelled the game at 0-11 apiece on 37 minutes.

Eoinín Ó Cualáin was introduced and made an immediate impact, edging Johnson’s side back in front. Corner forward Killian Joyce capitalised on a defensive error, fisting the ball across to Ó Cualáin, who showed great composure to finish to the net. Mulhern added his second point on 46 minutes to extend the lead to 1-13 to 0-11.

Sligo ended an 18-minute scoring drought when Cian Nicholson landed a two-pointer; and Lang added his fourth to cut the gap to two points on 56 minutes.

Galway pushed forward on 62 minutes, but Mulhern misplaced a pass and Sligo broke quickly, only for substitute Oisin Devlin to fire over the bar when a goal chance looked possible.

The visitors attempted a short 45 as they chased a crucial win to keep their knockout hopes alive, but Galway threw their bodies on the line and held out for a narrow victory.

​Galway: B Carroll; D Hughes, O Kelly, V Gill; C Rafferty, R McGrath (0-1), C Mitchell; S McGlinchey (0-2, 0-1 tp f), P Keaney; C Mulhern (0-2), R Coen (0-3, 0-1 tp), M Ó Domhnaill; K Joyce, M Mulryan (0-2, 0-1 tp f), M Collins (0-2).

Subs: E Ó Cualáin (1-1) for Ó Domhnaill (37), B O’Malley for Rafferty (39), H Keady for McGlinchey (54), N De Paor for Joyce (60), C Hynes for Mitchell (62).

Sligo: G Cummins; J McHugh, A Lillie, J Lavin; E Keane (0-1), P Brady, O Harte; C Walsh (0-1), C Nichloson (0-2, 0-1 tp); E O’Mahony (0-2, 0-2 f), M Carroll, C Gilligan; A Feeney (0-3), A Lang (0-4), M Walsh (0-1).

Subs: P Flynn for M Walsh (45), J Molloy for Carroll (50), O Devlin (0-1) for Feeney (54), D Mostyn for Brady (56).

Referee: I Monaghan (Roscommon).