Derry 0-16

Galway 1-13

IT could have been worse for Galway. Look at Kerry’s lot on their own turf in Tralee on the same evening. They led arch-rivals Dublin by 11 points at half-time and ended up with nothing.

At least, the Tribesmen’s second half collapse against Derry at Celtic Park on Saturday wasn’t so penal. The stalemate conclusion maintains the team’s unbeaten league run and they will surely appreciate more than ever that leaving jobs half done is a risky business.

Galway had appeared home and dry against the defending Division 1 champions as they galloped into a nine-point interval lead. Possessing the greater cutting edge and with Shane Walsh on fire in the second quarter, they had Derry on the ropes.

But the crowd of 5,500 and the assembled media had underestimated the influence of a swirling wind and the home team’s desperate desire to stop the rot having lost their opening two league games.

Derry were transformed over the concluding 35 minutes and, on the balance of play, were unlucky not to have crowned a mighty comeback with victory. Substitute Lachlan Murray, who kicked three points, was the central cog in their recovery but players like defender Eoin McEvoy and Ciaran McFall also upped the intensity levels.

It left Galway hanging on by the finish and it took a terrific block by back-to-form defender John Daly on Ethan Doherty in the closing seconds to prevent Padraic Joyce’s charges suffering a similar fate to Kerry.

The Galway number six was also in the right place to prevent Derry raising a green flag in the 40th minute when he instinctively deflected a rasping shot from raiding goalkeeper Neil McNicholl over the crossbar.

When you also consider that tireless midfielder John Maher pulled off three crucial block-downs in the opening half and Derry barely converted half of their scoring chances, maybe in the cold light of the day Galway should be content with the result.

That wouldn’t have been the mood in their dressing room at half-time, however. Leading by 1-10 to 0-4, Galway were coasting. Their goal came after only nine minutes when Paul Conroy’s perfectly timed pass put Dylan McHugh in the clear and the wing back’s deflected effort squirmed past the Derry cover.

Shane McGuigan had opened the scoring in the second minute after Liam Silke didn’t gather a raking Conor Glass delivery, but they wouldn’t score again for 16 minutes until influential centre forward Paul Cassidy landed the first of his three points.

Pictured: Galway’s John Daly tries to shrug off the attentions of Derry’s Ciaran McFall during Saturday’s Division 1 League tie at Celtic Park.