Galway 1-17

Sligo 0-18

By Eanna O’Reilly in Tubbercurry

THE Galway minor footballers secured their second win of the Connacht championship when overcoming Sligo by  a two point margin in Tubbercurry on Friday evening.

But Neil McHugh’s charges had to hold off a late fightback from the home side, who could have taken more from this game had they converted some clear cut goal chances during the contest.

When the boys in maroon held an 11-point lead with seven minutes of normal time remaining, it looked as though the victory was firmly the bag. However, the Yeats county rallied, with substitute Ewan Boland and goalkeeper Gareth Cummins kicking four two pointers between them, while captain Marc Clifford also chipped in with a point, to leave just two between the teams at the full time whistle.

In truth, Galway were the superior team and demonstrated the greater quality during this contest. With Andrew Kehoe and Eoin Newell in outstanding form in midfield, the visitors had a platform of dominance in the middle third from an early stage.

Playing with the aid of the wind, Galway dominated the opening quarter and built up a 0-6 to 0-2 lead after 15 minutes. Oranmore-Maree corner forward Barry Keating was sharp from the outset and had three early points (two frees) on the board. Cian Hynes was heavily involved in the play for Galway and he set up Ciaran O’Donnell for a good score, before tallying two points of his own during the next three minutes.

Ryan Lang and Thomas O’Brien pointed at the other end for Sligo, but Galway remained dominant and outscored the home side by 0-3 to 0-1 during the next ten minutes. Keating landed a two pointer, while Darragh Costello added an excellent individual score for the visitors.

Lang pointed a free in response for Sligo, while the Yeats county also had a goal chance when a shot from Adam Feeney beat Evan Burke, only for the retreating Aaron Hyatt to make an excellent block on the line.

The sides traded two points apiece during the remainder of the half. Keating demonstrated his quality once again, with a well taken score from the left wing, while he also added his fourth free of the evening, after a foul on the strong running Jeremiah Oifoh.

Pictured: Galway’s Cian Hynes, pictured in action against Roscommon’s Alex Oates and Dara Curran, scored two point in Friday night’s Connacht Minor Championship win over Sligo in Tubbercurry.