Galway leave it late against Sligo, Clare cruise
ROBERT FINNERTY broke Sligo hearts with his injury time goal saving Galway from a shock exit from the Connacht championship at a sunny Markievicz Park yesterday.
Sligo had looked set to reach back-to-back Connacht finals as they led all the way, storming into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead at the end of the opening quarter and leading at the interval by 0-9 to 0-6.
Patrick O’Connor had excelled for the Yeats County men, scoring three points.
In truth, Galway, who beat Sligo by 14 points in last year’s final, could have been in front at the break but Céin Darcy, Liam Ó Conghaile, Jack McCabe and Dylan McHugh all spurned clear goal chances.
Sligo still led with 12 minutes of regular time (0-14 to 0-11) left but the contest turned when Damien Comer, in his first appearance of the season, was sprung from the bench in the second half.
The 2022 All-Star kicked two points and went close to raising a green flag of his own before crucially taking advantage of a turnover in injury time to feed Johnny Heaney.
He in turn set up Finnerty – who finished with 1-5 – for the matchwinning goal which will set up a final date with the winners of today’s Roscommon/Mayo semifinal.
Meanwhile, Clare set up a Munster final date with Kerry for the second time inside 12 months with an emphatic 2-20 to 1-9 win over Waterford in Fraher Field.
The Banner men were always on top but it took a blistering finale at the end of the first half from Emmet McMahon, who scored
1-2 inside three minutes to leave Clare leading by 1-12 to 0-4 at the interval.
Mark McInerney struck for a second goal early in the second half but Tom O’Connell, who was the hero of Waterford’s quarter-final win over Tipperary, gave the home supporters in the 1,504 attendance something to cheer about when he punched to the net.