Galway ended their 16-year Croke Park hoodoo with victory in this afternoon’s Division 2 league final,
Not since the 2001 All-Ireland final drubbing of Meath have a Galway football team secured a win at GAA HQ and Kevin Walsh’s young charges certainly made hard work of this.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Gary O’Donnell, Paul Conroy, Seán Armstrong (free), sub Michael Daly and Liam Silke landed five-in-a-row between the 57th and 62nd minute to turn a 0-14 to 0-11 deficit into a two-point lead that the westerners looked on course to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand.
And even at that, a Kevin Feely point six minutes from time made it a one-point ball game. Subs Gareth Bradshaw and Michael Daly, either side of a Tommy Moolick effort, sealed the result.
Kildare did engineer a 20-metre free at the death, but Kevin Feely’s shot came off the post.
The sides went in level at the break, 0-6 apiece, and, in truth, neither side deserved to hold the lead such was the poor fare served up in the opening half.
Galway enjoyed far more possession than the Lillywhites and while they transitioned from defence to attack with great speed and purpose, their shooting and more notably, their willingness to shoot was very poor.
Eamon Brannigan was arguably the liveliest member of the Galway forward unit and found himself in a scoring position on several occasions, but he only thrice attempted to find the target – he was successful with his first, shot wide second time around and hit the post with his third. More often than not, though, he chose to offload when the smarter option would have been to have a go.
Kevin Walsh’s charges struggled in front of goal and finished the half with eight wides. There was also a Johnny Heaney goal chance which Mark Donnellan did well to keep out.
Among the scorers for the westerners were Shane Walsh, Seán Armstrong, Paul Conroy, Gary O’Donnell and a Gary Sice free. For Kildare, half of their tally arrived via the placed – Mark Donnellan floated over a ’45, while Kevin Feely notched a brace of frees. From play, Niall Kelly, Fergal Conway and full-back David Hyland were on the mark.
The Lilywhites kicked four on the bounce between the 44th and 47th minute to open up a two-point gap but were unable to push on.
Scorers for Galway: S Armstrong (0-1 free), S Walsh (0-3 each); P Conroy, G O’Donnell, J Heaney, M Daly (0-2 each); E Brannigan, G Sice (free), G Bradshaw (0-1 each).
Scorers for Kildare: K Feely (0-3 frees), N Kelly (0-4 each); F Conway (0-2); M Donnellan (0-1 ’45); K Cribbin, T Moolick, F Dowling, C McNally (0-1 each).
Galway: R Lavelle; C Sweeney, D Kyne, D Wynne; G O’Donnell, M Farragher, L Silke; P Conroy, F Ó Curraoin; J Heaney, E Brannigan, T Flynn; G Sice, S Armstrong, S Walsh.
Subs: M Lundy for Sice (54 mins); G Bradshaw for Farragher (56); M Daly for Brannigan (59); D Comer for Armstrong (63); I Burke for Walsh (69)
Kildare: M Donnellan; M O’Grady, D Hyland, O Lyons; J Byrne, E Doyle, K Cribbin; K Feely, T Moolick; F Conway, N Kelly, P Cribbin; C Healy, F Dowling, B McCormack.
Subs: C McNally for P Cribbin (38); D Slattery for McCormack (43, inj); P Kelly for K Cribbin, E Callaghan for Dowling (both 65);
Referee: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary).