Sun Jul 21 - Senior Football: Galway v Donegal

On a sweltering day in Canton, Donegal met Galway in the Boston Senior Football championship. Galway were in desperate need of a first win as they looked to gather their first win of the season, while Donegal were looking to lock in their place in the playoffs with a victory of their own.

Galway did not have the Rub of the Green 
on Sunday versus Donegal.

 
Early on in this encounter, there was a lot of back and forth between the teams without a score while the teams got the measure of each other. Galway broke the deadlock with a point from Kevin Cummins and went on to extend the lead with a goal from Sean Carrabine, who took advantage of a misplaced kick out from the Donegal keeper to give the Galway side a strong start. Donegal wouldn’t be held scoreless for long though as a goal from Gary Walsh for Donegal would open their scoring account. Sean Carrabine for Galway extended the gap to 2 points with a point from play, before a great run and a misplaced kick out from the Galway keeper would allow Donegal’s Mark Bradley to score two points and give Donegal the lead for the first time in the match. 
In a match that had started out slow was now developing into a great back and forth encounter, as both sides would keep neck and neck with points from Mark Bradley and St Vincents Man, Shane Carthy, for Donegal and Bannigan and Carrabine for Galway. It would be Donegal though who would take the lead before half time when Kerry’s Barry John Keane took on Evan Wynne, and passed it across to Ray Connelan who palmed it into the net. Galway would have a chance of another goal of their own as Stuart Cullen was denied by Hugh Boyle with a great save of a 1 on 1 shot. Galway’s Bannigan and Carribine, and Donegal’s Ciaran Murtagh would go on to score the final points of the half, which ended with a score of Donegal 2-6 Galway 1-6.
2^nd Half

Donegal started the 2nd half strongly as Ray Connelan won the throw in, and ran it down the field where he passed it to Gary Walsh, who was fouled and got a free, that he subsequently scored. Galway would respond in kind with great points from MIchael Bannigan and Jamie Walsh.  Galway looked to be making a bit of a comeback, however, they conceded a penalty when a defender mistimed a shoulder in the square. Gary Walsh stepped up to take it, and slotted it past the Galway goalkeeper to give the side a 5 point deficit. Galway would have a number of points from Carrabine and Bannigan, have a goal attempt stopped on the line by the Donegal defence, and have a penalty saved by Boyle to keep Galway on the wrong side of the scoring.

Galway’s woes would continue as Cian Hanley heavily tackled Cian Murtagh to concede another penalty. Gary Walsh once again stepped up to take the penalty, and slotted the shot into the lower right corner, sending the keeper the wrong way. Galway would go back and score another point from Bannigan, however Donegal worked the ball out from the goal kick from Boyle, which was caught by Doherty, who ran it up and passed it off to Walsh who slotted the ball into the back of the net for his hat trick. Donegal would go on to win the game 5-10 to 1-14.

While Donegal went on to win the match by 8 points, the match could have been closer had Galway had a bit of luck on the day. They now go onto their next match against the Wolfe Tones, and should the match go in their favor, could still have a chance to make it into the semi finals. Donegal now have 3 wins in 5 matches to lock in their 3rd place spot and to guarantee themselves a playoff spot.


 
Donegal: Hugh Boyle, Aaron Deeney, Aidan Sullivan, John Bingham, Jason Noctor, Neil McEneany, Ray Connelan, Shane Carthy, Jack O’Brien, Mark Bradley, Ciaran Murtagh, Gary Walsh, Barry John Keane
 
Galway: Jamie Kelly, Mark Mannion, Evan Wynne, Stuart Cullen, Danny Burke, Sean Melville, Cian Hanley, Jamie Walshe, Sean Carrabine, Adam Gallagher, Shairoze Akram, Kevin Cummins, Michael Bannigan

By Evan McDonagh