Sligo fight a good fight to take Galway to a replay

HABITS can be hard to break. Twelve months on, and a sense of deja vu enveloped dreary Markievicz Park yesterday, where champions Galway, and their would be conquerors Sligo, kick started the Connacht Senior Football Championship in to life with another draw that ensured no sour taste in the mouths of either camp.

Sligo may not have beaten Galway in a provincial football engagement in some 21 years but, boy, they have been making life difficult for the Tribesmen in recent times.

As Bosco McDermott said: "They are good fighters." And, in yesterday's greasy conditions such an asset was fundamental to any aspirations.

It was no classic. But if attributes such as commitment and determination, allied to 17 of the 24 scores coming from play and no bookings in modern day Gaelic Football - mean anything, then Connacht football has not quite reached the depths some prophets of doom preach.

Apart from the high ratio of scores from play both goals were finished exceptionally well and on occasions, the fielding - especially from Galway duo Fergal Gavin and Austin Leonard - was of a high quality.

The second half, in particular, produced an exciting 35 minutes of football with the pendulum swinging freely one way and then the other before Paul Taylor, undoubtedly Sligo's star performer, slotted over the equalising point in the dying seconds to ensure a re match on Sunday week in Tuam.

Referee Seamus Prior probably erred on the side of caution in awarding that late free to Sligo, penalising Galway's full back Gary Fahy for an illegal handpass. Yet, similar efforts had been allowed, from both sides, throughout the match without so much as a tweak from the official's whistle. Still, Taylor certainly wasn't complaining.

Sligo had proven to be far more economical with their chances in the opening period, registering just one wide to Galway's eight on their way to a deserved 0-5 to 0-3 interval lead.

The two teams were stymied in their attempts to play free flowing, hand passing football by the persistent rain and slippy surface, yet improved considerably in the second half, with the scent of victory producing the desired response from both teams.

Indeed, with the reality that their crown was on the line, Galway were far more eager on the resumption and quickly cancelled out the half time deficit, thanks to points from Niall Finnegan and Jarlath Fallon, their two main dangermen.

And Finnegan, in fact, grabbed Galway's goal in the 46th minute. The student barrister improvised brilliantly to fire home with his right foot as keeper Pat Kilcoyne advanced to capitalise on good build up play from Sean de Paor and Austin Leonard. The goal propelled Galway into a 1-7 to 0-8 lead and, when Declan Meehan quickly added another point, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Sligo.

Not so. Sligo showed they possess heart and skill when local soccer star Johnny Kenny passed to Fintan Feeney who, in turn, found Paul Durcan. The big centrefielder's rasping 54th minute shot was brilliantly parried by Cathal McGinley, but only as far as Taylor who made no mistake.

After that, both sets of forwards treated the estimated 6,000 crowd to a nip and tuck affair containing some marvellous points from play and, when substitute Tomas Mannion gathered the ball from Meehan and concluded Galway's scoring with a well taken point in the 68th minute, it appeared as if the champions would escape without the need of a replay. It was not to be, though.

Fittingly, Taylor, who had provided most of Sligo's attacking options, kept his nerve to kick the late, late free to salvage a draw - and keep alive Sligo's hopes of a first senior title since 1975, the last time they managed to defeat Galway in the championship.