Ref under fire as Mayo beat gallant Galway

Mayo 1-11 Galway 1-9(aet)

A game that was utterly without rancour, which was described afterwards by Galway manager PJ Fahy as "a great game, a very sporting game", was ruined as a spectacle by the whistle-crazy official who blew for 107 frees.

Possibly the best or worst example of all was the incident which allowed Mayo to tie this game in regular time. With five minutes remaining in a fiercely-fought game, Cora Staunton, Mayo's outstanding forward, won a ball outside the 45 and, off-balance, backed into the Galway defender and fell down. If anything it should have been a free to Galway, however, the long arm of Mr O'Hare awarded the place kick to Staunton, which to add insult to injury she duly pointed.

There were many other cases, too numerous to mention.

Does all of this mean that Galway were hard done by, that Mayo didn't deserve to go through? Yes and no.Galway could have and should have won this in normal time, but when they didn't, the reigning All-Ireland champions made no mistake in extra-time and were worthy victors.

Having played into a very strong wind in the first half, Mayo had restricted Galway to a four-point half-time lead (1-4 to 1-0) but, in the process, had run themselves ragged. Their goal had come early via a penalty which was won by the bustling Staunton in the 5th minute and coolly converted by centre-back Yvonne Byrne. For the remainder of the half, it was all Galway who landed three points on the trot before they had a green flag of their own, from the ever-dangerous Niamh Fahy supplied by the hard-working Gillian Joyce.

That four-point half-time lead grew by two within minutes of the restart, as Mayo, now wind assisted, struggled to find their feet.

The Galway midfield pairing of Annette Clarke and non-stop Patricia Gleeson were everywhere, super athletic wing-forward Lisa Cohill was covering acres of space while wing-backs Aoibheann Daly and Emer Flaherty were in superb form.

Rebecca McPhilbin was also carrying out her specific duty of curbing the threat of Mayo playmaker Michelle McGinn. However, patience is the mark of champions and gradually Mayo worked their way back. Working harder than anyone else was midfielder Clare Egan. "Coming into this game, a lot of people were assuming that because we beat Galway easily enough in the Connacht final we'd do the same here, but we knew different. Fair play to Galway, they are definitely a coming side. They tested us to our limit, tested our character and our courage. But we've been in tight situations before and after five years of non-stop work, we weren't going to give that up without giving it everything."

They did, and with the timely intervention of referee O'Hare, they managed that long-range Staunton equaliser.

To extra-time then and this was where Mayo earned their right to contest that All-Ireland final. Four hard-earned points into the wind in the opening period set up their win, before a magnificent defence in the face of brave and incessant Galway second-half pressure preserved it.

"You needed nerves of steel," Egan explained. "It's all about keeping calm, keeping possession of the ball. You can't panic, and we didn't."

But what of gallant Galway?

"They just ran themselves into the ground, gave it everything", said a hoarse Fahy, "but they were beaten in the end by a brilliant Mayo team. What can you say about Mayo? I followed them for years when they were on top and I'll support them now again. But we gave it everything."

Such a pity those officiating didn't reach the same standard.

Scorers Mayo: C. Staunton 0-7 (0-5 frees); Y. Byrne 1-0 (pen); C. Heffernan 0-2; D. O'Hora 0-1; A. Gallagher 0-1.Galway: N. Fahy 1-2; G. Conneally 0-5 (0-4 frees); L. Joyce 0-1; A. Clarke 0-1.

MAYO: D. Horan; N. O'Shea, H. Lohan (c), M.T. Garvey; J. Moran, Y. Byrne, C. O'Hare; C. Egan, E. Biggins; E. Mullin, C. Heffernan, M. McGing; C. McDermott, M. Heffernan, C. Staunton. Subs: M. Carter (McDermott 26); E. Reilly (Biggins 35); D. O'Hora (Mullins 35); S. McGing (Byrne 39); A. Gallagher (J. Horan 46). E/T: T. McNicholas (O'Hora 79); C. McDermott (Carter 83).

GALWAY: U. Carroll; M. O'Connell, R. Stephens, R. Wynne; A. Daly, M. Burke, E. Flaherty; A. Clarke, P. Gleeson; L. Cohill, G. Joyce, G. Conneally; R. McPhilbin, L. Joyce, N. Fahy. Subs: E. O'Malley (Burke 26). E/T: E. Concannon (McPhilbin 65); D. Heverin (Clarke, inj. 67); P. Flaherty (Heverin (88).

Referee: E. O'Hare (Down).