Bleahene seals dramatic win for Tribesmen
GALWAY’S first ever Leinster Under-21 Championship campaign could not have ended in more dramatic fashion at Portlaoise last night as they struck a dramatic winner in the dying moments of extra-time. Sean Bleahene was the hero for the Tribesmen as he pounced to claim the title deep into added time at the end of extra-time. Galway were denied victory in the closing stages of regular time when Wexford wing-back Ian Carthy forced extratime with a goal. Galway led by six points after just twelve minutes, but hit just one more point before the interval. The goal came from Tomas Monaghan and the match opened at a frenetic pace which saw Galway lead by 1-6 to 0-3 after seven minutes. Seamus Casey and Rory O’Connor pointed for Wexford before Cianan Fahy grabbed his second for Galway to lead by 2-8 to 0-6. Wexford then struck seven points without reply and it took a superb double save from Galway goalkeeper Eanna Murphy to deny Liam Stafford and Rory Higgins a goal. Evan Niland pulled back a point for Galway after the restart but Wexford hit the next three and also saw a Casey penalty saved. Galway rallied with a couple of frees from Niland but then Casey soloed through and blasted to the net to help Wexford lead 117 to 2-12. But then Galway got hope when Cooney scored a goal from an acute angle after 47 minutes and inside a minute Niland flicked home their third goal as they led 3-13 to 1-17. Galway lost Shane Bannon to a second yellow card but managed to push the lead out to three and looked set for victory before Carthy rescued Wexford. A sixth point of the game from O’Connor looked to have secured the win for Wexford in extra-time but there was still time for Bleahene to win it. GALWAY: E Murphy; I O’Shea, J Fitzpatrick, S Bannon (C Connor 60); J Grealish, F Burke (c), M Hughes (C Caulfield 41); T Monaghan (M Lynch 75), S Loftus; B Concannon (R Murphy 66), C Salmon (P Foley ht), C Fahy; E Niland (S Bleahene 77), S Bleahene (J Canning 42), K Cooney. Scorers: E Niland 1-7 (7f); T Monaghan, K Cooney 1-2; C Fahy 0-5 (1’65, 1f); S Bleahene 1-0; B Concannon 0-2; S Loftus, F Burke, C Caulfield 0-1. WEXFORD: J Cushe; S Reck, D Byrne, I Carthy; A Maddock, D Reck, G Molloy; C Firman (c), R White (D Codd 56); J O’Connor, R O’Connor, L Stafford (O Foley 52); S O’Gorman (M Dwyer 52), R Higgins, S Casey (S O’Gorman 66). Scorers: S Casey 1-11 (9f); R O’Connor 0-7 (2f), I Carthy 1-0; S O’Gorman, J O’Connor, R White 0-2, G Molloy, R Higgins 0-1. Referee: J O’Brien (Laois).