'A lot of aspects we wouldn't be happy with' says Pádraic Joyce as Galway edge thriller with Down

Irish Examiner

5 hours ago

DOWN 3-21 (3-4-13) GALWAY 2-26 (2-5-16)
In this great football championship, there is no time to cherish just how brilliant these games have been.
Galway will move on quickly because they have to. Down will be thanked for playing their part in the second gem in the space of seven days but they will be soon forgotten and this will simply be filed on the growing pile of thrillers this competition has produced.
The intense schedule of the championship gives us such small periods to anticipate but reflect too. We are being spoiled and we probably don't even know it because the frequency, not the amount of matches means this scintillating action is merely content.
Perhaps later in the year Down's contribution to this fete of football will be acknowledged with an All Star for Odhrán Murdock.
He was again immense here. His 64th minute goal brought Down within two points and threatened to spook Galway.
After Tomo Culhane's goal and a follow-up point from another substitute Daniel O'Flaherty four minutes later, Pádraic Joyce's side were able to absorb another body blow when Ryan Magill found the net.
Céin D'Arcy took plenty out of the sting out of that setback with a point to push Galway four up in the final minute. Ryan McEvoy's two-pointer after the buzzer was mere consolation.
'In fairness to our experienced lads, Peter Cooke made a massive difference when he came on the pitch,' said Pádraic Joyce. 'Tomo got a great goal, Daniel O'Flaherty got two points.
'Our bench has made a massive impact in the last couple of games, as it did today. Johnny Heaney came on after a head injury for Cillian [McDaid], he handled the ball three or four times and minded the ball really, really well.
'A lot of aspects we'd be really happy with, obviously a lot of aspects we wouldn't be happy with and the amount of scores we conceded. But it was that kind of game anyways, it was going to be open. We couldn't have it every way. Happy to get out of here with the win, to be honest.'
The 14,435 crowd in Newry's Páirc Esler were genuinely treated to a spectacle and Galway were too good a team to depart at this relatively early juncture but just how many more of these close shaves they can keep enduring in such quick succession is questionable. All the same, they are demonstrating resolve and reserve by the bucketload.
If the 1-8 from play return of the Cork inside line on Saturday evening was impressive, Galway's total of 1-13 was wonderful. In light of him turning on the charm once more with a total personal tally of 1-7, the extent of Shane Walsh's shoulder setback will exercise most supporters's minds ahead of their All-Ireland quarter-final.
Assisted in no small part by the breeze, Galway's 10-point half-time lead (1-16 to 1-6) was sliced in half in less than four second-half minutes, The margin returned to eight in the 42nd minute but was whittled down to two by the 58th as Conor Flaherty couldn't find white shirts.
Daniel Guinness sent over his second two-pointer and substitute Caolan Mooney added back-to-back points and Joyce twice summoned for Connor Gleeson to be ready to come on.
However, the change never came. Substitute Cooke was becoming a presence. A Walsh two-point free despite him being clearly lame put Galway five ahead prior to Cooke having a shot kept out by Burns. The finale, the three goals, was popcorn-worthy. There had to be a tragic hero and Murdock made the role his own with his 64th minute goal.
In the first quarter between woodwork and parts of Ronan Burns's anatomy, Galway left 2-3 on the pitch. Robert Finnerty was first to be denied by the young Down goalkeeper in the 15th minute and Cillian McDaid was stopped by Burns less than three minutes.
Those openings had come after a 14th minute goal by John McGeough that was a casebook example of the lightning dash to Down's football in this championship.
The home side had been under immense pressure on their kick-out and conceded five points in a row including a Finnerty two-pointer when a long boot from Burns landed over the Galway cover and Murdock drove forward and supplied McGeough for a tidy finish.
At the third time of asking, Galway raised a green flag in the 22nd minute as Walsh took receipt of a Matthew Thompson pass and tucked the ball. However, it was not without controversy as Down's Patrick McCarthy was on the ground with a head injury when Galway turned over the ball in their own half.
The Down management were apoplectic on the sideline and made their case to referee Derek O'Mahoney again at half-time. Yet their team's reaction to the setback was strong: Danny Magill sent over a quick brace of points and McCarthy's temporary replacement Eugene Branagan completed a hat-trick of unanswered scores.
That 26th minute score, however, was Down's last of the half as Walsh made the game his own for the remainder. He sailed over the first of two-pointers in the 28th minute and caught the next kick-out ball that put in train the attack for a Finnerty point.
Walsh brought his personal total to 1-3 with a point on the half-hour mark and then hurt his shoulder when winning a two-point free, which he converted a minute later.
Thompson ended the half with three points himself, the second a two-pointer, to give Galway that handsome 10-point lead.
In keeping with a championship where no advantage feels secure, it ended up being just about enough.
Scorers for Down: O. Murdock (1-2); J. McGeough (1-1); D. Guinness (0-4, 2tps); R. McGill (1-0); D. Magill, M. Rooney (tp), P. Havern (frees), C. Mooney, R. McEvoy (tp) (0-2 each): E. Branagan, A. Crimmins (free), C. Doherty, J. Guinness (0-1 each).
Scorers for Galway: S. Walsh (1-7, 2tpfs, 1 tp); R. Finnerty (0-6, 1tp, 1 free); M. Thompson (0-5, 1tp); T. Culhane (1-0); C. McDaid, M. Tierney, D. O'Flaherty (0-2 each); P. Cooke, C. Darcy (0-1 each).
DOWN: R. Burns; C. Doherty, P. Fegan, P. Laverty; D. Magill, R. Magill, M. Rooney; D. Guinness, O. Murdock (c); J. Guinness, P. Havern, P. McCarthy; J. McGeough, R. McEvoy, A. Crimmins.
Subs: E. Branagan for P. McCarthy (temp 22-26); E. Branagan for P. McCarthy (h-t); C. Mooney for J. McGeough (53); O. Savage for C. Doherty (58); C. McCrickard for A. Crimmins (62); F. Murdock for M. Rooney (66).
GALWAY: C. Flaherty; J. McGrath, S. Fitzgerald, L. Silke; D. McHugh, S. Kelly (c), C. Hernon; P. Conroy, J. Maher; C. D'Arcy, M. Tierney, C. McDaid; R. Finnerty, M. Thompson, S. Walsh.
Subs: P. Cooke for P. Conroy (48); D. O'Flaherty for C. Hernon (57); J. Heaney for C. McDaid (temp 61-69); T. Culhane for S. Walsh (62); J. Daly for J. Maher (67).
Referee: D. O'Mahoney (Tipperary).