Galway quest for title hat-trick derailed by the Rebels

Galway 1-13

JUST when the Galway minor ladies footballers stood on the brink of rescuing their All-Ireland three-in-a-row ambitions, they suffered an unexpected final quarter collapse in this high-quality championship semi-final in Nenagh on Sunday.

Eight points down to Cork – the other dominant force in ladies under-age football – approaching the interval, Galway had managed to draw level just eight minutes into the second-half and with nearly all the momentum behind them, the girls in maroon looked odds on to maintain their unbeaten three-year championship record.

Unfortunately, Galway stumbled badly from there to the finish – they failed to register a solitary score over the closing 19 minutes – as Cork regained their composure with their inherent ability to engineer goals critical to the outcome.

It didn’t help Galway’s cause that the heavy rain gradually reduced the strong wind which they had toiled against in the opening-half, but the extent of their struggles in the defining period of the match was still surprising.

Without a competitive match for nearly three months – you could claim they didn’t have one at all given their stroll through Connacht – Galway had made a bright start with a Lorraine Meehan free enough to have the teams still level after 10 minutes.

Cork were that bit stronger physically, but Galway compensated by their greater athleticism, typified by half-back Sophie Healy whose surging runs often didn’t meet with the reward they deserved.

The Munster title holders were just starting to display signs of edginess in struggling to exploit the elements until their forward unit began to catch fire, with player of the match Fiona Keating and Jennifer Murphy rattling over points before the semi-final’s first goal arrived.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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