Galway survive Sligo scare

Don't believe everything you read, starting with the 1-13 to 0-12 scoreline. There weren’t four points between these teams yesterday. Hell, there weren’t even four inches.

With 70 minutes played, Sligo were neck and neck with a Galway side that had played football four divisions above them all spring and it was the home team tightening the noose.

It was a scenario no-one could have foreseen half an hour into the tie when the favourites were eight points to two up and cruising towards a result akin to Mayo’s against Roscommon last week.

And yet by the time the three minutes of injury time kicked in Sligo were pouring forward in search of a win to match their famous Connacht final success against Galway here two years ago.

Both sides had been reduced to 14 men for the closing exchanges following red cards for Neil Ewing and Gary O’Donnell, but it was Liam Sammon’s men who were in rag order.

Every single Galway player had migrated back into their own half towards the finish, such was the tide they faced, but then they broke upfield and within seconds Joe Bergin kicked a point.

The killer blow was hot on its heels: Jonathan Davey, one of Sligo’s best players, was mugged from the short kick-out and the ball was fed into an unmarked Sean Armstrong.

It was meat and drink to the corner-forward. The net bulged and thousands of hearts sagged. Like the Lions in South Africa the day before, here was evidence that sport can be a cruel, cruel theatre.

Galway will be having nightmares about Markievicz Park after two harrowing experiences here in recent times. They might have won on this occasion but there are still questions to be answered.