Leanne Coen double guides Galway to final glory

First came the annoyance of having her equalising point chalked off as referee Margaret Farrelly deemed that an advantage period for a foul on a Kerry player had run out, necessitating the free to be taken.

But all was not lost, O'Shea still had the opportunity to not just level the game but win it from what was a two-point free.

And when her meaty kick dropped just shy of the crossbar, but just above the hands of goalkeeper Leah O'Halloran, for a goal, the Kingdom skipper presumed she'd won it.

Turning back and darting giddily towards midfield, we tracked O'Shea from Level 7 of the Hogan Stand and the press area as she encountered Emma Costello and locked her in a brief embrace.

By that stage, Farrelly had already signalled that the goal didn't stand, and that Galway had effectively won. O'Shea looked entirely befuddled as the buzzer went and Galway players crumpled in fatigue and delirium.

What had just happened? In her search for answers, the Southern Gaels player made a beeline for Farrelly who, using her two index fingers, made the sign of a square, a crude and crushing explanation that a square ball offence had occurred.

And it had. By the time the ball entered the small square from O'Shea's kick, there were three different Kerry players in there.

Still not satisfied, or perhaps simply unable to process how an All-Ireland title had been whipped from Kerry's grasp, O'Shea engaged an umpire and went through the same line of questioning. With the same inevitable outcome.

O'Shea and Kerry had a genuine grievance over the initial point and the relatively short period of advantage extended. Surely the point should have been allowed to stand?

"Yeah, absolutely," agreed Kerry manager Mark Bourke. "The player wasn't going backwards, the player was in a positive position moving forward. I didn't feel the (referee's) hand was up long enough, maybe three seconds, and I don't know, referees usually leave that advantage go until there's a deficit going the other way, or a disadvantage to the player, and it should have gone through and been counted as a point. That's my opinion. You'd be annoyed about all of it really."

Had O'Shea's point stood, what would have been her sixth of the afternoon, the teams would have done it all over again on the weekend of August 15/16.

That may have been the fairest outcome though, if we're entirely honest, it was a tough watch and didn't exactly whet the appetite for a second helping.

Galway won the game but set up pretty cautiously, leaving midfielder Siobhán Divilly to stand sentry in the middle of their rearguard. They will be eternally grateful to Leanne Coen for her two goals.

The first kept Galway in the game at half time when it was 1-4 to 0-7. The second, six minutes from the end of the second half, broke a spell of Kerry dominance which had yielded three points in a row, and left Galway one up.

It still all came down to Eva Noone's point three minutes from time, a cracking score from the right of the goals at the Hill 16 End which will go down as the game-breaker.

There were other stars sprinkled through the Galway team. Captain and corner-back Kate Geraghty was named player of the match, lining up on Jadyn Lucey initially and putting out numerous fires around the Galway defence.

Ahead of her, wearing number six, Nicola Ward caused wreck again. Her driving runs from the heart of Galway's defence forward, based on all evidence throughout this year's Championship, are impossible to counter. One of them set up a goal chance in the 15th minute which Róisín Leonard couldn't convert. Another ended with her sister Louise Ward having an effort blocked though her last powerful run created the chance for Coen's second goal.

Olivia Divilly's three points were vital too, coming as they did in the middle third of the game when the rest of Galway's forwards seemed to slump.

We shouldn't have been surprised, of course, that the two Wards, the three Divilly sisters and Noone - she too had a sister on the team - played such a key role in the landmark win, Galway's first All-Ireland win since 2004 and just their second ever.

They have been part of an all-conquering Kilkerrin-Clonberne club team over the last five years. No other club team has claimed that title since Mourneabbey in 2019.

"I suppose a lot of the narrative has been how come Galway haven't got there with Kilkerrin-Clonberne going so well over the years," said Galway manager Daniel Moynihan. "I think that's something that would have grinded their gears a little bit."

Galway apparently took motivation too from being written off in certain quarters.

"I think a lot of the commentary around Galway this week has been a little bit disappointing, if I'm honest," said Moynihan.

For the record, Galway were favourites beforehand, a nod to their stunning form all summer and big wins over Meath, Tyrone, Mayo and Armagh.

They averaged 27 points per game in the All-Ireland series before the final. Just nine scores, totalling 15 points, was enough this time.

Galway scorers: L Coen (2-0); O Divilly (0-3, 2 frees); K Slevin, K Thompson, R Leonard, E Noone (0-1 each).

Kerry scorers: S O'Shea (0-5, 3 frees); N Ní Chonchúir (0-3); C Carmody, J Lucey, E Costello, C Evans (0-1 each).

GALWAY: L O'Halloran; B Quinn, S Ní Loingsigh, K Geraghty; H Noone, N Ward, L Ward; N Divilly, S Divilly; E Noone, K Slevin, K Thompson; O Divilly, L Coen, R Leonard.

Subs: S Hynes for Thompson (51); E Power for S Divilly (56); A Trill for Leonard (57).

KERRY: ME Bolger; E Lynch, D Kearney, A Dillane; A O'Connell, N Carmody, R Rahilly; E Costello, M O'Connell; M Mulvihill, N Ní Chonchúir, C Evans; J Lucey, D O'Leary, S O'Shea.

Subs: L McMahon for Mulvihill (43); E McGlynn for Lucey (51); R Dwyer for O'Leary (57).

Referee: M Farrelly (Cavan).