Stalemate in Galway

Corofin 0-9 Mountbellew-Moylough 0-9

A last-gasp point from Galway senior star Joe Bergin sent today's Galway SFC final between Mountbellew-Moylough and former All-Ireland champions Corofin to a replay.

New Galway manager Joe Kernan was among those watching this dogged encounter at Tuam Stadium, in which the sides were level on six occasions.

It was Corofin who looked the side most likely to claim victory as the 12-time title holders opened up two-point leads on three separate occasions over duration of the game.

However, Mountbellew-Moylough were always able to come up with the goods and find equalising scores.

Points were at a premium in the opening stages with the sides level at 0-2 apiece at the end of the opening quarter.

Ciaran McGrath and defender Alan Burke were on target for Corofin, while Joseph Meehan bagged two pointed frees for Mountbellew-Moylough.

Although 18-year-old Joss Moore put Mountbellew-Moylough ahead with the next point, three scores from Gary Higgins, Alan O'Donovan and McGrath pushed Corofin 0-5 to 0-3 clear nine minutes before the interval.

Mountbellew-Moylough rallied again strongly with a brace of points, but Corofin made a strong finish to the first half.

They suddenly found their legs and showed great speed with half-back Alan Burke making a bursting run from defence.

Burke laid the ball off to full-forward Joe Canney who darted into space but had his shot saved superbly by Mountbellew-Moylough goalkeeper Brian Donnellan.

Alan O'Donovan made amends somewhat by landing the resulting '45', handing Corofin a 0-6 to 0-5 lead at the break.

Mountbellew-Moylough centre-forward Thomas Wall engineered a 34th minute goal chance for himself, but Corofin's defence held firm.

Mountbellew-Moylough bounced back with two of the next three points to ensure the sides were level at 0-7 each as the game entered the final quarter.

Higgins and Canney pushed Corofin into a two-point lead with 13 minutes remaining, but Mountbellew-Moylough failed to give up as scores from Meehan and Bergin made it a drawn game.

Scorers - Corofin: G Higgins, C McGrath, A O'Donovan 0-2 each, A Burke, J Canny, K Comer 0-1 each.

Mountbellew-Moylough: J Meehan 0-5, P Gardiner, J Moore, J Bergin, C Kenny 0-1 each.