Roscommon 1-10

Galway 1-7

Ivan Smyth at Dr Hyde Park

THE Galway minor footballers face an uphill battle to progress through to the knock-out stages of the Connacht Minor Football championship after a damaging three point defeat to Roscommon last Friday.

A poor, error strewn opening-half display proved fatal as Galway trailed 1-4 to 0-4 at the interval despite enjoying wind supremacy. Although Neil McHugh’s side managed to move within a point of Roscommon on two separate occasions during the second-half, the damage was done earlier in the contest.

Galway’s tally of 12 wides, eight of which came during the opening half,  left them vulnerable. The boys in maroon were also guilty of overcooking passes to the inside line which only served to stall any momentum generated and hand possession back to Roscommon.

Although Galway boss McHugh admitted their shooting needs to be brushed up ahead of a pivotal showdown with Mayo, he feels his side’s struggles to win the ‘dirty ball’ was more costly.

“We had a lot of opportunities and even towards the end we were creating chances. The effort was there, and they took on the shots. You can’t fault a guy for putting a ball a foot or two wide. We were beat and I have no issues with the final score.”

Galway now face into a critical home tie against Mayo this Friday. They beat Roscommon by six points in the opening round of games with the margin in no way flattering the winners as the men in primrose and blue scored a late 1-1 to avoid a double-digit defeat. Kobe McDonald, son of Mayo football legend Ciarán, scored 1-5 and will take close monitoring.

Galway knew they needed a strong start especially with the elements behind them, but were dealt a big blow early on. Roscommon were impressive in utilising the full dimensions of Dr Hyde Park as they stretched Galway and got the reward in the third minute.

Pictured: Galway defender Donnacha Naughton who was on the scoresheet against Roscommon on Friday night andGalway minor footballer Killian Joyce who converted a brace of frees against Roscommon at Hyde Park.