Cooley on song for Tribe
GALWAY 2-13 ROSCOMMON 2-9
MATTHEW COOLEY powered Galway to the Connacht MFC title with a brilliant display at Dr Hyde Park.
The Corofin ace kicked five points from play as goals from Eoghan Tinney and captain Conor Raftery spearheaded the winners’ challenge. Galway set their template for success early on with points from Cooley and Daniel Cox.
The home side finally troubled the scoreboard when Ruaidhri Fallon pointed in the 15th minute. Another point followed from Enda Crawley, and Roscommon looked to be on the road to recovery.
But Galway’s next score was a vital one as Aidan Halloran cleverly squared for the inrushing Eoghan Tinney to find the net. The Tribesmen pushed on with points from Paul Kelly and Halloran before Adam McDermott provided a brief respite for Roscommon who trailed by 1-10 to 0-6 at the break.
Roscommon made a better fist of things in the second half and Fearghus Lennon’s 39th-minute goal was a fillip. However, Cooley was at the heart of everything for Galway and when Raftery powered forward to drill a 52nd minute shot to the net, his side led by 2-12 to 1-7. Shane Cunnane fired home a consolation penalty for Roscommon in injury-time.
SCORERS – Galway: M Cooley 0-5, R Monaghan 0-4 (4fs), E Tinney 1-1 C Raftery 1-0, D Cox, A Halloran, P Kelly 0-1 each.
Roscommon: Adam McDermott 0-5 (3f), S Cunnane 1-1 (1-0 pen), F Lennon 1-0, R Fallon, E Crawley, D Murray 0-1 each.
GALWAY – D Halloran; C Deane, S Black, E Walsh; R Monahan, T Gill, C Sweeney; P Kelly, C Raftery; L Judge; A Halloran, O McCormack; E Tinney, D Cox, M Cooley. Subs: C Halbard for Gill (35), S Horkan for McCormack (56), O Gormally for Judge (58)
ROSCOMMON – D Connolly; C Brogan, D Murray, K Gunning; R Dolan, J Hester, J Lohan; E Crawley, S Cunnane; R Fallon, E Derwin, R Walsh; F Lennon, Adam McDermott, J Fitzpatrick. Subs: L Ormsby for Derwin (40), Aaron McDermott for Walsh (49), C Carthy for Crawley (50), C Walsh for Lennon (59).
REF – J Gilmartin (Sligo)