Page 19 - INTO THE WEST - March-April 2018

ALLIANZ NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
DIVISION 1 ROUND 5
TARGET: Galway forward Damien Comer on the attack against Dessie Ward from Monaghan in their NFL Division 1 clash at Pearse Stadium. Photo: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE.
COLLISION: Aidan O’Shea of Mayo is removed from an altercation by Paul Conroy of Galway during their Allianz Football League Division 1 Round 3 match at Pearse Stadium in Salthill.
Photo: Diarmuid Greene/SPORTSFILE
INTO THE WEST – Page 19
Galway forwards flourish on way to league final berth
Galway .............0-17 GMonaghan .........1-10
By DECLAN ROONEY Media West Ireland
0-7 to 0-5 advantage, but after he was fouled Fintan Kelly kicked out at Gary O’donnell on the ground, which resulted in the free being reversed, and the Monaghan forward being shown a straight red card.
Galway’s response was impressive after the break with another Comer point
straight from the throw in, and he almost
hit the game’s first goal two
ALWAy continued unbeaten run and qualified for the division 1 final after Sean Armstrong conducted their
minutes later when his shot for a point came back off the crossbar. But
Galway soon took
powerful second-half showing against 14- man Monaghan at Pearse Stadium.
the lead when
Shane Walsh
and McHugh
kicked scores,
while
McHugh’s
fourth free pushed Galway 0-9 to 0-7
ahed in the 48th minute.
Armstrong only scored one pointed free, but all round him the Galway forwards flour- ished and a late Kieran Hughes goal only served to trim Galway’s winning margin.
Conor McManus was one of five changes to the Monaghan line up ahead of throw in, and he kicked his side’s first point from a ninth minute free, and Jack McCarron added Monaghan’s second point to level matters. A second McHugh free and a powerful point on the run form damien Comer soon restored Galway’s advantage.
Sean Armstrong was one of Galway’s most incisive forwards after
his first-half introduc-
tion, but a brilliant score from his fellow replace- ment, Adrian Varley, stretched Galway’s lead
out to four, before McManus tapped over a free at the other end to end 22 score- less minutes for
While being the team in charge of the first quarter, Galway only held a 0-5 to 0-3 lead by the 23rd minute – they kicked six wides with the wind advantage – and they were well punished at the other end as Monaghan kicked four points in a row, including two excellent efforts from Kieran Hughes to lead by two.
Monaghan.
The one less man in
Just before half-time Monaghan were awarded a free and could have stretched that
the Monaghan defence clearly freed up some additional space in the second-half and after a McHugh free, a driving run from declan Kyne resulted in the ball coming off the cross- bar, but Johnny Heaney scored a point from the rebound and Galway ran out easy winners.
SCORERS – Galway: Barry McHugh 0-5 (0-5f), Damien Comer 0-3, Johnny Heaney, Adrian Varley, Paul Conroy 0-2 each, Shane Walsh, Eamonn Branni- gan, Seán Armstrong (0-1f) 0-1 each.
Monaghan: Kieran Hughes 1-3, Conor McManus 0-4 (0-3f), Jack McCarron 0-2 (0-1f), Rory Beggan 0-1 (0-1 ’45).
GALWAY: R Lavelle; D Kyne, S Ó Ceallaigh, E Kerin; G O'Donnell, G Bradshaw, C Sweeney; P Conroy, C Duggan; J Heaney, S Walsh, E Brannigan; P Sweeney, D Comer, B McHugh. Subs: S Armstrong for Sweeney (9), P Cooke for Duggan (48), A Varley for Walsh (49), S Kelly for O'Donnell (55), T Flynn for Heaney (69), F Burke for McHugh (70).
MONAGHAN: R Beggan; R Wylie, K Duffy, C Boyle; K O'Connell, P McGuirk, V Corey; K Hughes, N Kearns; R McAnespie, N McAdam, F Kelly; C McManus, J McCar- ron, M Bannigan. Subs: C McCarthy for McManus (12- 18, blood) & for McCarron (50), D Ward for Bannigan (36), D Wylie for McGuirk (44), D Hughes for McAdam (46), O Duffy for Corey (59).
REFEREE: B Cassidy (Derry).