Sligo snatch a draw from jaws of victory

CONNACHT SFC SEMI-FINAL Galway 1-10 Sligo 1-10:ON A weekend of unusual results, this was simply unfathomable. Why did Sligo not win this? Where to begin?

Surrendering a nine-point lead at half-time, against a team that for long stages couldn’t win a ball to save their lives, couldn’t find a score even if they were allowed to, and played the last 30 minutes with 14 men?

Or the point Keelan Cawley really should have scored, close to goal, with about six minutes left, which would have put Sligo six points clear, and instead he inexplicably sliced wide?

Or maybe just the complete breakdown in concentration, which allowed Galway sneak through for a goal two minutes into injury time, and moments after that, conceding the soft free that allowed Galway grab the equaliser – with the final kick of the game?

Seriously, Sligo should have been halfway back to Strandhill by then, planning for the Connacht final. So they’ll go at each other again at 6.30pm next Saturday, this time at Markievicz Park.

That might sound like a nice advantage for Sligo, but truth is, this result was, for Galway, as good as a victory, at least in their hearts and minds, while for Sligo it was as bad as a defeat.

For maybe an hour or more Sligo looked to have more than one foot in the Connacht final – the first since 1947 that wouldn’t have featured Galway or Mayo. Except Galway weren’t willing to account for that statistic. Not yet anyway.

To their credit they never let the heads drop. Instead, they tore into Sligo in the last five minutes, sensing perhaps some panic in their opposition: why weren’t they home and dry yet, like they should have been?

In the 70th minute, David Kelly – who had delivered another man-of-the-match performance in the number 15 jersey – fired over his third point, to add to his thundering first-half goal, and Sligo were 1-10 to 0-8 to the good.

But that was only their second score of the half, partly explained by the strong breeze which, when behind their backs for the first half, helped them race so convincingly clear of Galway.

But Galway saved their best football for the three minutes of injury time. First Pádraig Joyce cut the deficit by one, with his sixth point of the day – and that should have been the warning sign to Sligo that the 33-year-old could still turn back the clock.

Moments later, Joe Bergin passed off to Joyce, who dodged through a few defenders and passed to Eoin Concannon – and, knowing only a goal would save them, he blasted towards the Sligo net, and hit it first time. Some of the Sligo faces looked like ghosts. There were still 90 seconds to play.

But in the move that may ultimately come back to haunt them, Eamonn O’Hara, in almost the next passage of play, clipped Michael Meehan, and the free, about 20 metres out, was hugely kickable. Yet someone still had to kick it, and not too many hands went up. Defender Garreth Bradshaw took it, and then promptly raised his hand in delight. Galway were level and that was that.

Sligo had blown a glorious opportunity to make the final, and everyone in the 12,831-crowd here knew it. Nine points up at half-time, 1-8 to 0-2, is not the sort of advantage they can hope for the next day, especially when it’s obvious Galway can only improve.

Meehan came on for the last 30 minutes and, while clearly short on fitness after his three-month lay-off with a knee injury, he’s sure to be a bigger threat the next day. Seán Armstrong only lasted 39 minutes, sent off on a second yellow card for a heavy tackle on Johnny Davey, so of course he’ll be back too. And Galway’s midfield pairing of Bergin and Conroy can only improve.

Even with the breeze, Sligo were winning the Galway kick-outs for fun, especially Mark Breheny. But at the same time their brilliant tackling and control of every little bit of breaking ball made them appear far superior than perhaps they really were.

But Kelly’s goal on 30 minutes, when he took an easy ball from Breheny and roasted Alan Burke in the process, should really have been the foundation of a Sligo win.

Galway went the last 25 minutes of the half without a score, and when they played most of the second half with only 14 men Sligo should have punished them. Instead they were left cursing themselves.

GALWAY: 1 A Faherty; 2 K Fitzgerald, 3 F Hanley, 4 A Burke; 5 G Bradshaw (0-1, f), 6 D Blake 7, G O'Donnell; 12 J Bergin (0-1), 8 P Conroy; 10 G Sice (0-1), 11 S Armstrong, 9 N Coleman; 13 E Concannon (1-1), 14 P Joyce (0-6, 3f), 15 M Clancy. Subs: 23 M Meehan for Clancy (41 mins), 24 D Cummins for Conroy (62 mins). Yellow cards: K Fitzgerald, S Armstrong (34 mins), D Blake (35 mins), Armstrong (39 mins), P Joyce (60 mins),N Coleman (69 mins).

SLIGO: 1 P Greene; 2 C Harrison, 3 N McGuire, 4 R Donavan; 5 K Cawley (0-1), 6 B Philips, 7 J Davey; 8 T Taylor (0-1), 9 S Gilmartin; 13 C McGee (0-3, 3f), 11 M Breheny (0-1), 10 A Costello (0-1); 14 K Sweeney, 12 E O'Hara, 15 D Kelly (1-3). Subs: 25 E Mullen for Sweeney (58 mins), 17 S Coen for McGee (68 mins). Yellow cards: B Phillips (42 mins), K Cawley (68 mins), E O'Hara (72 mins).

Referee: David Goldrick(Meath).