TRIBE KICK ON
„Galway book spot in League final „Red card does damage for Monaghan
GALWAY bridged a 12-year gap to reach the Division 1 League final, but their life was made easy after Fintan Kelly’s sending off before half-time in Pearse Stadium.
Two points up approaching halftime, Monaghan’s captain was shown a straight red, while Galway opened the second period with six unanswered points to take control.
Prior to that incident Monaghan had put in a brilliant ten-minute spell, where they kicked four points without reply, but the sending off had a massive impact on the outcome.
‘I don’t know, I might see it later on but we thought he (Kelly) was wrestling himself free,’ said O’Rourke.
‘It was the changing of the game. We have to learn from it. But very disappointed with it. We were going well at that stage. We were well in the game. But as the game went on the boys started to tire.’
With Damien Comer powerful up front and Eoghan Kerin among some excellent defensive displays, Galway were still good value for a fifth straight win. By the time Kieran Hughes helped himself to a late goal, Galway were so far ahead that they could have conceded another and still won.
Shorn of that extra body in defence when down to 14, Monaghan began to struggle with Galway’s strong ball carriers. It seemed as if Kelly could have avoided kicking out after he was fouled by Gary O’Donnell, and as well as losing their player, Monaghan also missed a tap-over free, which would have put them well in control.
‘Before half-time there was 15 minutes where it was just flat, too flat for our liking,’ said Kevin Walsh. ‘We got them back into the dressing room and had a few words and definitely the intensity levels lifted up higher.
‘I’d be much happier with the second half, with the application levels and intensity, apart from a few instances in the last 20 minutes.’
The loss of Patrick Sweeney after just nine minutes was a big blow to Galway, but as it turned out, his replacement Sean Armstrong went on to deliver a man of the match performance as Galway’s play-maker. When he arrived into the action Galway were 0-2 to 0-1 ahead after Paul Conroy and Barry McHugh found the target, although Jack McCarron’s free soon levelled matters.
Three of the next four points went to the home side as they seemed to make the most of their direct running and support on the shoulder in the face of Monaghan’s defensive wall, but a couple of points from Conor McManus and another from McCarron gave Monaghan a 0-7 to 0-5 interval lead.
Comer started the second half with a great point and Shane Walsh did similar, while a couple of McHugh frees and Brannigan and Adrian Varley scores pushed Galway well ahead.
For the most past Eoghan Kerin was handed the job of marking Conor McManus and he had a tough day on the Annagh down man, with McManus’s only second-half point coming from a free in the 52nd minute — Monaghan’s first of the half.
That score put three points between the sides, but Galway went on to hit three reply and five of the next six scores.
At the death a long ball unlocked the Galway back line though and Kieran Hughes rattled a goal for Monaghan, which was the first conceded by Galway in their five games, and even though Owen Duffy also came close late on to a second goal, Galway were never in trouble. GALWAY: R Lavelle; D Kyne, S Ó Ceallaigh, E Kerin; G O’Donnell (S Kelly 55), G Bradshaw, C Sweeney; P Conroy, C Duggan (P Cooke 48); J Heaney (T Flynn 69), S Walsh (A Varley 49), E Brannigan; P Sweeney (S Armstrong 9), D Comer, B McHugh (F Burke 70). Scorers: B McHugh 0-5 (5f); D Comer 0-3; J Heaney, A Varley, P Conroy 0-2; S Walsh, E Brannigan & S Armstrong (1f) 0-1. MONAGHAN: R Beggan; R Wylie, K Duffy, C Boyle; K O’Connell, P McGuirk (D Wylie 44), V Corey (O Duffy 59); K Hughes, N Kearns; R McAnespie, N McAdam (D Hughes 46), F Kelly; C McManus (C McCarthy 12-18, blood), J McCarron (C McCarthy 50), M Bannigan (D Ward 36). Scorers: K Hughes 1-3; C McManus 0-4 (3f); J McCarron 0-2 (1f); R Beggan 0-1 (1 ’45). Yellow card: C McManus 73. Red card: F Kelly 35. Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry).