Kernan: We didn’t play in the first-half

IT was another Connacht championship afternoon fraught with tension for Joe Kernan.

On the opening weekend of May, Kernan sampled his first taste of provincial football at the helm of the Tribesmen when they endured a rickety ride to success on Stateside against New York. The spectre of an early summer exit had loomed large in that game and yesterday in Pearse Stadium, the prospect manifested itself once more.

As he trooped into the dressing-room at half-time, the big Crossmaglen man prepared to rouse his Galway troops as they stared at a nine-points deficit. It took a stirring second-half revival, with a late injury-time blast of 1-2, to save Galway and maintain their interest in the destination of the 2010 Connacht football spoils.