We got out of jail, admits relieved McIntyre

GALWAY boss John McIntyre candidly admitted Offaly were desperately unlucky not to have won at Croke Park yesterday.

McIntyre accepted a third-minute line ball from his midfielder Ger Farragher was incorrectly deemed a point by the umpire at the Railway End goal: “It was wide – straight up,” said McIntyre.

“Galway got the breaks today from the match officials. I’m not saying deliberately or anything like that. But we’re lucky in some respects to have got a draw out of it even though it took a great free from Shane Dooley to level the match.”

Understandably, Offaly manager Joe Dooley concurred with McIntyre in his assessment:

“Yeah, it was two yards wide,” insisted Dooley. “We got no 50-50 decisions today, but I suppose the next day we might. However, the referee has only a split second to make up his mind.

“I thought the sending-off was a terrible harsh decision, we can look up at it on the screen and see that it wasn’t a sending-off, but that’s the way it goes.

“Maybe the Galway-Kilkenny ideal Leinster final – maybe that’s what was wrong. But you have to overcome these things on the day and keep hurling away. I suppose the Kilkennys of this world don’t complain if they don’t get frees, and we’ve got to be the same.

”In fairness to the lads, they kept plugging away and you’ve have to be very proud of the lads today. It just shows we are as good as anyone out there when we get it together.”

Dooley was particularly proud of the manner in which his players stormed back into contention after their opponents took a four-points lead (2-15 to 3-8) eight minutes into the second half.

“Galway looked like they were really going to walk with it when they went four points up, and the sending off coincided with their over-run,” remarked Dooley, whose side will have to line out in the replay without wing-forward Derek Molloy, who was forced off at half-time yesterday after aggravating an ankle injury.

McIntyre also spoke glowingly of the performance by the Faithful County: “I’ve no doubt that Offaly’s tails will be up after that performance which was probably their best championship display in over a decade,” he said.

“Twelve of that team that lined out today I’ve worked with in the past. I didn’t have a whole lot of luck with them, but I knew that they would be well capable of matching one of the top teams.” In relation to the sending-off of Currams, McIntyre argued that it probably benefited Offaly more than his own side.

“I believe the sending off had a negative effect on Galway,” he stressed. We were five points down at half-time, and we had gone four points up at that stage. David Burke was just after sending over a great point, and undoubtedly it (the sending-off) gave Offaly a cause, and they fought like terriers from there to the finish.

“Maybe we got a bit complacent, thought we had the match won with the opposition reduced to 14 men.”