Galway 2-11 Wolfe Tones 3-16
Wolfe Tones made history winning their first senior football
championship with a controlled, professional performance. The Tones scored when they needed to score
and slowed things down when things needed slowing. All around the Tones did well, from corner
back to corner forward, but for the second week in a row, it was Rathnew man,
Leighton Glynn, whose imprint was all over the Tones performance. The game almost resembled last week’s
semi-final when the Tones put the game to bed in the latter stages of the first
half. This week, however, Galway put up
a spirited second half performance and gave themselves a glimmer of hope five
minutes to go, reducing the gap to five points with time left, but the Tones
erased that hope with a goal in response almost right away.
 |
| Gerry Prior lifts the Pat Mulvihill Cup with Ronan O'Driscoll and Mike O'Brien. |
It was a cagey enough opening period. Galway played patient build up football,
while the Tones moved in bursts of speed.
Galway edged into a one point lead after the early exchanges. Michael Daly, Eoin Finnerty, Barrry McHugh
and Kevin Cummins had a share of the spoils for the Tribesmen. For the Tones Leighton Glynn was again
instrumental, the oil that greases the machine.
Along with Paddy Keenan in midfield and Kevin O’Brien in the half backs,
the Tones started to take the game over in a manner reminiscent of last week’s
semi-final.
Galway had a couple of slack passes out of defence and were
punished on the second one with a goal from Shea Tennyson after a back and
forth with Glynn. The Tones then proceeded
to tally seven unanswered points while Galway searched for openings that did
not present themselves as the Tones swarmed in defence. A handful of chances were missed by the
westerners. Tennyson, Glynn, Keenan and
Gerry Troy were on the mark for the Tones and it was a 9 point lead at the
break.
Galway got the start they needed to the second half. Quick points from Finnerty and Daly were
followed by a goal from Cillian O’Sullivan.
O’ Sullivan had been well marshalled all game, but again, it was a bad
pass out of the Tones defence that presented the opportunity, and the Meathman
finished well. The Tones kept their
patience however and did not let the flurry of scores rattle them. The response to the goal took the form of
three points, Furlong and Keenan the scorers, and the benefit of the goal for
Galway was erased.
 |
| All in as the team and supporters celebrate the first Wolfe Tones senior football victory. |
The final quarter saw the Tones hold on to their 2 goal lead
as the teams swapped points, but the breakthrough that had the Tones supporters
preparing to celebrate the first championship in the history of the club came
when substitute, Tomas O’Connor, won a ball in his corner and use his strength
to beat his man and plant the ball into the far corner of the net. Galway pushed to end and a glimmer of hope
briefly opened when a Kevin Cummins goal reduced the gap to five points with
five minutes to go, but true to form the Tones replied immediately with a goal
from Leighton Glynn as Galway had numbers upfield. It has been a long wait for the Tones for
their first championship, but for all of their supporters in Canton on Sunday,
it was well worth it!
Galway: J. Kelly, J.
Kennedy, K. McDonnell, S. Cullen, P. Naughton, C. Mannion, E. Kavanagh, E.
Stritch, M. Daly, C. O’Sullivan, B. McHugh, K. Cummins, E. Finnerty. Subs:
Subs: J. Kehoe, J. Naughton, L.
Kelly, G. McCoy, G. Lundy.
Tones: L. Molloy, M.
Grady, B. Fortune, S. Driscoll, K. O’Brien A. McDonnell, I. Whelan, P. Keenan,
M. O’Brien, L. Glynn, G. Troy, S. Tennyson, S. Furling. Subs:
R. Driscoll, J. Naughton, T. O’Connor, D. McCabe, G. Brilly.
By Rory O'Donnell
No comments:
Post a Comment