Roscommon in Connacht U-20 Final

Galway 0-11 Roscommon 1-11

At Tuam Stadium this afternoon Roscommon made it through to the first Connacht U-20 final against Mayo next Sunday in Hyde Park, in the end they had a goal to spare over Galway who were reduced to 14 men after only seven first half minutes when Finain Ó Laoi was red carded. Despite been a man down the hosts were all square at the break at 0-5 each in low scoring encounter. Robert Finnerty opened the scoring inside the opening minute but it was all square on two minutes when Cian McKeon pointed for the Rossies, Galway then shot three unanswered points with Dessie Conneely shooting two and Finnerty adding the other to leave their side leading by 0-4 to 0-1 after eleven minutes.

Aaron Brady, Paul Carey and McKeown found the target for the visitors to tie the scores as the half entered into eight minutes of injury time, due in part to a collision between Roscommon players Conor Shanagher who was stretchered off and Keith Murphy. Each side added a point each before the break with Connelly for Galway and Damien Duff pointing for the visitors to make 0-5 each at the break.

Roscommon’s Dylan Ruane goal after eight second half minutes was a game changer as Galway never recovered from that score and found it hard to come to terms with the extra man from that on, despite the fact than Conneely had opened the second half scoring and it was still only a two point game, and when Darragh Silke pointed the lead was down to one but it was the visitors who kicked on with three unanswered points from ‘Man of the Match’ McKeon and when Brady added his second of the day to leave Galway trailing by 0-7 to1-9 with fifteen minutes remaining.

Galway will look back on the game and wonder where it all went wrong and despite having the lions share of possession they failed to register it on the scoreboard, and the paid the price in the third quarter of the game when the winners shot 1-5 in a ten minute scoring spree .

The Galway team was: Oran Burke; Sean Fitzgerald, Sean Mulkerrin, Conor Campbell; Jack Glynn, Ryan Forde, Colin Murray; Cein Darcy, John Daly; Darragh Silke, Lorcan Molloy, Finian O’Laoi; Rob Finnerty, Liam Costello, Dessie Conneely. Subs: Barry Goldrick for Molloy, Rory Cunningham for Silke, Jack Kirrane for Costello, Fionan Garvey for Murray, Maitias Bairead for Daly.

Galway scorers: Dessie Conneely 0-6, Rob Finnerty 0-3, Darragh Silke 0-1, Rory Cunningham 0-1

Roscommon team: Aaron Brady; Lorcan Daly, Evan Flynn, Liam Cregg; Aidan Dowd, Luke Mollahan, Darren Nerney; Conor Shanagher, Eddie Nolan; Keith Murphy, David McManus, Dylan Ruane; Brian Derwin, Cian McKeon, Paul Carey. Subs: Ciaran Lawless for Murphy, Damien Duff for Shanagher, Murphy for Lawless, Ciaran Sugrue for Derwin, Gerry Galvin for Nerney, Michael Conroy for Sugrue, Cian Corcoran for McManus

Roscommon scorers: Cian McKeon 0-7, Dylan Ruane 1-0, Aaron Brady 0-2 ), Paul Carey 0-1, Damien Duff 0-1

Padraic Mannion in action on Saturday in Pearse Stadium

MANNION INSPIRES GALWAY

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

GALWAY 0-26 DUBLIN 2-19

By Cian O'Connell at Pearse Stadium

Though the stakes weren’t piled too high in Salthill Galway and Dublin still summoned a lively second half to entertain 9,957 interested spectators.

Initially the first half hadn’t provide much suspense, but Dublin thundered into the reckoning in the third quarter as the match concluded with plenty of drama.

Jason Flynn’s free in the fifth minute of stoppage time proved to be the decisive blow as Galway secured the spoils, but Dublin left Pearse Stadium heartened too following a gritty display.

While the opening half might have been low on intensity it was still laced with splendid scores from a variety of angles.

A polished Galway outfit converted eight of their first nine shots confirming their skill and by the time the interval rolled around the locals led by seven.

Early on Dublin were busy only trailing 0-5 to 0-4 by the 13^th minute, but Galway struck five of the next six points to really seize the initiative.

During that burst of Galway craft Jason Flynn, Joseph Cooney, and Conor Cooney all clipped sweet efforts from play for Micheal Donoghue’s standard bearers.

At the opposite end of the field Dublin weren’t sufficiently clinical nailing nine from 19 opening period attempts.

Another Galway flurry included delightful points from Padraic Mannion and Conor Whelan as the maroon team went in armed with a healthy 0-16 to 0-9 cushion.

The complexion altered dramatically in the 10 minutes immediately after the restart when substitute Paul Winters punished two lapses in concentration with a couple of opportunistic goals.

Winters netted in the 39^th minute supplying a flick to the back of the Galway net and added a second following a Jason Flynn free moments later.

Suddenly the gap was trimmed to the minimum and then Dublin custodian Alan Nolan launched a long range free to restore parity.

Nolan subsequently drilled a free in the 48^th minute steering the visitors ahead as the tempo increased hugely.

In the remaining minutes Galway were crafty enough to shrug off Dublin’s spirited resistance outscoring Pat Gilroy’s improving team by eight points to six down the home straight.

Flynn’s last gasp free edged Galway in front and fittingly the game concluded with the sliotar being tamed by the immaculate Padraic Mannion, who had struck three points from wing back, while also repeatedly thwarting Dublin with some shrewd defensive interventions.

Kilkenny in the Leinster decider is next on the agenda for Galway. That should be a tasty encounter at GAA headquarters.

Scorers for Galway: Jason Flynn 0-11 (9fs), Conor Whelan, Padraic Mannion, and Joseph Cooney 0-3 each, David Burke and Conor Cooney 0-2 each, Cathal Mannion and Sean Loftus 0-1 each

Scorers for Dublin: Paul Winters 2-1, Rian McBride (1 sideline) and David Treacy (3fs) 0-4 each, Paul Ryan 0-3 (3fs), Alan Nolan 0-2 (2fs), Cian Boland, James Madden, Sean Moran, and Jake Malone 0-1 each.

GALWAY: James Skehill; Paul Killeen, Daithi Burke, Aidan Harte; Padraic Mannion, Gearoid McInerney, John Hanbury; Sean Loftus, David Burke; Joseph Cooney, Niall Burke, Cathal Mannion; Conor Whelan, Conor Cooney, Jason Flynn.

Subs: Eanna Burke for Loftus (44), Shane Cooney for Killeen (50), Davy Glennon for Conor Cooney (68), Padraig Brehony for Joseph Cooney (70+3).

DUBLIN: Alan Nolan; Paddy Smyth, Cian O'Callaghan, Eoghan O'Donnell; Shane Barrett, Sean Moran, Chris Crummey; Rian McBride, Tomas Connolly; Jake Malone, Fiontan McGibb, Cian Boland; David Treacy, Danny Sutcliffe, Paul Ryan.

Subs: Eamon Dillon for Paul Ryan (HT), Paul Winters for Connolly (HT), Cian McBride for Boland (48), James Madden for McGibb (66), John McCaffrey for McBride (70+3).

REFEREE: Diarmuid Kirwan (Cork).

Galway Footballers into the Connacht S.F.C. Final

Galway in Connacht Final

Galway 4-24 Sligo 1-12

Galway will travel to Hyde Park in two weeks time to play Roscommon in the Connacht Final after defeating Sligo in Pearse Stadium, a goal from Sean Kelly late in the opening half gave the Tribesmen a resounding lead that they never looked like losing.

The visitors had the aid of slight breeze in the opening half but it was Galway who opened the scoring with a Shane Walsh point but Adrian Marron replied with a point shortly afterwards, but by the end of the opening quarter the Maroon and White had built up a seven point lead, Sligo staged a mini come back with points from Pat Hughes and Niall Murphy to cut the lead to five with fifteen minutes remaining, Galway again took control and kicked five points without replay to lead by ten.

Sean Kelly finished the first half with goal following good work from Johnny Heaney and Damien Comer as Galway lead at the break by 1-15 to 0-6. Sligo goaled after two minutes of part two when Kyle Cawley punched to the net but a brace of points from Ian Burke kept the scoreboard ticking over for Galway and with twenty minutes to go Burke scored Galway’s second goal following a pass from Shane Walsh. Damien Comer hit two late majors to see Galway finish on a high and date with the Rossies on June 17^th

Galway scorers; D Comer 2-2, S Kelly 1-2, Ian Burke 1-2, S Walsh 0-5, E Brannigan 0-3,B McHugh 0-3,

J Heaney 0-2, P Cooke 0-2, P Sweeney 0-1, F Burke 0-1, G O’Donnell 0-1.

The Galway team: R Lavelle, D Kyne, S A Ó Ceallaigh, D Wynne, C Sweeney, G Bradshaw, S Kelly, T Flynn, P Cooke, J Heaney, S Walsh, E Brannigan, D Comer, I Burke, B McHugh.

Subs: P Sweeney for McHugh, M Daly for Flynn, G O’Donnell for C Sweeney, F Burke for I Burke, J Duane for Bradshaw, D Cummins for Walsh

Photo Ian Burke beats the Sligo keeper  Aidan Devaney in sunny Salthill

Galway Hurlers into the Leinster S.H.C. Final 

David Burke and Kevin Foley in action this evening 

Galway 1-23 Wexford 0-17

At Wexford Park Galway qualified for the Leinster final with a well merited win over Davy Fitzgerald’s outfit, the All-Ireland champions got off to a dream start with Conor Cooney pointing in the opening minute followed by Conor Whelan goal when Padraic Mannion goal bound shot was saved by Mark Fanning but Whelan made no mistake from rebound.

Cooney added another point for the tribesmen before Wexford opened their account when Rory O’Connor landed a point, Joe Canning and Paudie Foley exchanged points before a Paul Morris white flag left four points between the sides.

Canning increased the Galway lead to five before O’Connor and Cooney exchanged scores and when Joe Canning landed a sidle line the men in white went in leading at the break by 1-12 to 0-9. In part two Galway added   early points from Whelan and Canning, and when Canning added thee more the game was over as a contest as Galway had built up a ten point lead.

Wexford now have a crunch game with Kilkenny next week with the winners to play Galway in the Leinster final and Dublin have a date in Salthill

Galway scorers : J Canning 0-12, C Whelan 1-2, C Cooney 0-4, N Burke 0-2, D Burke 0-2, J Flynn 0-1

Wexford scorers R O’Connor 0-10, P Morris 0-2, A Nolan 0-2, P Foley 0-1

Galway team; J Skehill, A Tuohy, D Burke, J Hanbury, P Mannion, G McInerney, A Harte, J Coen, D Burke, C Mannion, J Canning, J Cooney, C Whelan, J Glynn, C Cooney.

Subs J Flynn for Glynn, N Burke for Cooney, B Concannon for C Mannion, S Linnane for Hanbury, D Glennon for Canning

The Club Football League Tables May 28th