Tribe’s double-barrel blast rocks Kingdom
Kerry had recovered from a disastrous start to lead 0-7 to 0-4 and looked well on their way to their second final in a row, but those goals rocked them back and they never fully recovered.
This was a wonderful game of football played in the proper spirit by two excellent teams, and the real pity was that there weren’t too many people in the ground to see it. Galway deserved their victory if only for their refusal to lie down when Kerry got the upper hand. Their football was magnificent, played with pace and precision and on this evidence they’ll be hard to beat in the final.
They had excellent players in Keith Kelly, Conor Doherty whose attacking flair from wing back marked him out as a player of exceptional ability, Paul Conroy, Tommy Walsh, Michael Martyn and Damien Reddington.
Kerry made a major contribution to this hugely-entertaining contest, and it was no fault of Barry Shanahan, Paul Costelloe, Johnny Buckley, Colm O’Shea and Barry John Walsh that they came up three points short.
Galway made the best possible start with a Damien Reddington point after 50 seconds and wing back Conor Doherty came forward to land another a minute later. Kerry struggled at midfield from the start against the aerial dominance of Paul Conroy and Anthony Griffin, and defensively they were in trouble also as they tried to cope with the incisive running of the Galway forwards.
Kerry were hardly out of their own half in the opening minutes but on the two occasions they attacked they made them count. Barry John Walsh fielded superbly on the edge of the Galway square before setting up Eoin Kennedy for a goal chance but his kick was a faction too high.
However it got the Munster side up and running and inspired by the magnificent Walsh at full forward, Kerry went on a scoring spree, and from a position of being completely outplayed, they led 0-7 to 0-4 after 20 minutes,
The Kerry defence had tightened up considerably winning ball from the front, and with Johnny Buckley and Wayne Guthrie doing well at midfield with the result that Galway went 12 minutes without a score before Tommy Walsh pointed a free before this entertaining clash took a dramatic turn in their favour.
There appeared to be no danger when Michael Martyn lofted a free goalwards but the ball was fumbled by a Kerry defender and Tommy Walsh was on hand to billow the net to tie the game for the first time.
The cheering had hardly died down before Galway were back for a second goal, this time by outstanding wing back Conor Doherty who linked with John O’Brien before sliding the ball home.
Credit to Kerry they refused to be ruffled by the shock of those two goals and they finished the half strongly with points by Colm O’Shea and the impressive Eoin Kennedy to leave the sides locked together at half time, 2-5 to 0-11, significantly all but three of the entire scores coming from play, which was a tribute to the excellence of both teams.
There was no let up in the scoring on the changeover as both sides added two points each, Barry John Walsh scoring both for Kerry and the sides were level for the third time after 40 minutes.
It was pure football from both teams, as play swung from end to end and two evenly-matched teams were level on three further occasions before Galway’s class began to tell. Paul Conroy and Anthony Griffin regained control of midfield and with Damien Reddington and Michael Martyn rampant in attack, the scores began to flow.
Three points in a row were added, two of them fisted efforts by Reddington and Martyn when goals looked on.
Kerry needed a goal if they were to stay in contention but the placing of corner back Keith Kelly on Barry John Walsh reduced that threat considerably. At the other end Martyn gave Galway a four-point cushion with two minutes to go and they hung on despite Walsh clipping their crossbar from a 13-metre free for a point, to reach their first final since 1994 when, ironically they lost to Kerry.
Galway: M Martyn 0-4 (0-1 free); C Doherty, T Walsh (0-1 free) 1-1 each; D Reddington 0-3; P Conroy 0-2; E O’Mahony, J O’Brien, J Burke 0-1 each. Kerry: BJ Walsh 0-8 (0-5 frees); E Kennedy 0-4 (0-1 free); C O’Shea 0-3; J Buckley, W Guthrie 0-1 each.
O Higgins; D Rhattigan, C Ford, K Kelly; C Doherty, D O’Reilly, T Fahy; P Conroy, A Griffith; JJ Greaney, T Walsh, J O’Brien; J Ryan, M Martyn, D Reddington.
E O’Mahony for Greaney (37 mins); J Burke for J Ryan (57).
T Mac an tSaoir; D O’Sullivan, B Shanahan, B Russell; I Somers, B O’Leary, P Costelloe; J Buckley, W Guthrie; J Doolan, C O’Shea, JB Spillane; T O’Sullivan, BJ Walsh, E Kennedy.
M O’Shea for Doolan (32); A O’Donoghue for T O’Sullivan (52); K O’Connor for Guthrie (53); C O Muirchearthaigh for D O’Sullivan (57).
C. Reilly (Meath).
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