ALL-IRELAND UNDER-21 FC FINAL Galway 2-16 Cavan 1-9:WITH 10 minutes gone in this All -Ireland under-21 final, Galway's scudding little corner-forward Danny Cummins hurtled through the centre of the Cavan defence and tapped a point that levelled the scores at 0-3 apiece.
All six points had come from play, each of them a little pearl of their own. Although Galway had a hearty breeze at their backs, Cavan were playing smart, purposeful stuff and giving the favourites plenty of it. We settled in, not at all unreasonably, for a right old ding-dong.
We didn’t get it. Cavan went the next 15 minutes without troubling the scoreboard operator, by which time Galway had eased into a 12-point lead. The pairing of Tomás Flynn and Fionntán Ó Curraoin in Galway’s midfield – both of them eligible at this grade for the next two years – took the game and wrung all mystery and guesswork out of it. Every Cavan kick-out came back with bells on and there wasn’t a thing the Ulster champions could do about it.
It was like watching a dumptruck plough through a campsite. Any chance Cavan had of holding out was zapped with the first Galway goal, a palmed effort from Patrick Sweeney after some pinball stuff in front of goal. The Cavan keeper Alan O’Mara almost pulled off a miraculous double save in the melee but couldn’t quite get there. In a heartbeat, this game was done.
“Cavan were playing well against the wind,” conceded Galway manager Alan Mulholland afterwards, “and they way they set up, they were trying to hold us out and keep us back. So once the goal went in, it was a confidence blocker for them. They were doing very well up to that with the wind and their game plan seemed to be to get to half-time with maybe only a few points in it or level. But to concede a goal rocked them.”
Mulholland’s side weren’t long draining Cavan’s reserves of hope from there. Sweeney’s goal made it 1-5 to 0-3 but with Ó Curraoin and especially Flynn mopping up everything in the centre of the pitch, their forwards were handed target practice on a plate. Cummins was the pick of them, ending the day with four points from play. Centre-forward Mark Hehir had a fruitful afternoon as well, kicking frees with composure and style. By the time the smelling salts were waved under Cavan’s nose at the break, Galway were 2-10 to 0-5 ahead.
“Galway got off to a wonderful start and perhaps nerves got to our boys a little bit,” said Cavan manager Terry Hyland. “They seemed to fumble a lot of ball they would usually hold onto. In fairness to Galway, everything they did turned to gold. They were fit to kick the ball from anywhere and it went over the bar. Our lads were dropping a few short at the same time. But look, Galway were the better team on the day, there’s no point taking away from that.”
The second half was never about anything more than score-keeping. If there was going to be a chance for Cavan, they needed goals and they needed them early. Four minutes after the break, their gutsy full-forward Niall McDermott caught a high ball and drew a sympathetically soft penalty from the referee. Alas, wing-forward Barry Reilly’s penalty was just as soft and Galway goalkeeper Manus Breathnach saved well to his left. From there on, it was just a matter of the Connacht champions keeping their heads.
“The boys showed great maturity,” said Mulholland. “But they’ve been doing that all year from the very first game. I was surprised how much everyone was worried after their first win that they might not keep their feet on the ground. It was the lads themselves who drove that. I didn’t need to steer them in the right direction.”
So a dire spring ends with a splash of sun on Galway backs. Just under half of their panel will be underage again next year and in Flynn and Ó Curraoin they have a nascent midfield partnership that could really be something. No guarantees, just a little hope. They’ll take that for now.
GALWAY: M Breathnach; G Sweeney, C Forde, A Tierney; J Moore (0-2), J Duane, T Fahy; F Ó Curraoin, T Flynn; M Boyle (0-2, 0-1 free), M Hehir (0-7, 0-4 frees), C Doherty (0-1); D Cummins (0-4), P Sweeney (1-0), E Monaghan (1-0). Subs: A Murphy for Sweeney (half-time), M Farragher for Monahan (47 mins), B Flaherty for Boyle (57 mins), C Halloran for Fahy, C Silke for Tierney (both 59 mins).
CAVAN: A O'Mara; F Flanagan (0-1), O Minagh, D Tighe; K Meehan, D Barkey, M Brady; G McKiernan, M Leddy; N Smith (0-1), N Murray (0-1), B Reilly (0-2, 0-1 free); J Brady (0-1, free), N McDermott (0-2), P Leddy. Subs: P King for Leddy (21 mins); K Tierney (0-1) for Reilly (40 mins); N McKiernan for King (56 mins); C McClarey (1-0) for Meehan (58 mins).
Referee: E Kinsella(Laois).
