GREAT WIN FOR GALWAY AGAINST ARMAGH 1-11 TO 0-9 POINTS

Galway caused an All-Ireland football qualifiers third round shock by beating Armagh 1-11 to 0-09 at Pearse Stadium.

Alan Mulholland's Tribesmen, lucky to survive tricky tests against Tipperary and Waterford, delivered a plucky and polished performance to stun the visitors and they now face Cork next Saturday.

A 24th minute Danny Cummins goal ensured Galway deservedly went in 1-06 to 0-05 ahead at the interval.

After the restart Armagh rallied with replacement Stefan Campbell enterprising, but Galway stayed calm as Michael Meehan's frees and Michael Martin did the damage up front.

Keen to utilise Johnnny Duane as a defensive sweeper Galway vexed the visitors for a spell during an interesting opening quarter.
Galway were working diligently throughout the park forcing Armagh to shoot under pressure and the visitors hit six first-half wides.

That was chiefly because Galway were primed for a battle and the way they were set up meant that they were able to break at speed.
And when they did, midfielders Tom Flynn and Paul Conroy were honest and effective as Armagh struggled to cope with the deep runners.

Johnny Duane fisted an early point and then Michael Meehan banged over two frees, one from an awkward angle as Galway led 0-03 to 0-00 after 10 minutes.

Armagh improved with a burst as a Tony Kernan free and a Caolan Rafferty point trimmed the deficit to the minimum.

But Galway ploughed on defiantly and were 0-04 to 0-03 ahead when Danny Cummins palmed an opportunistic 24th-minute goal.
A brace of Michael Martin points ensured Galway went in 1-06 to 0-05 ahead at the interval and the shock was most definitely on at that stage.

Armagh, though, were much improved after the restart with substitute Stefan Campbell a significant influence in the revival.
Campbell hit a sweet third-quarter effort as Armagh had the margin trimmed to 1-6 to 0-7 by the 44th minute.

Then Martin slung over a delightful score which gave Galway a dollop of confidence, but Armagh continued to probe with Campbell industrious.

But when Campbell had the gap down to two again Galway hit four in a row from Meehan (2), Conroy, and Gary Sice to seize control.
Armagh craved a goal in the dying minutes, but all they could muster was a Ciaran McKeever point and Galway, who held Jamie Clarke scoreless, eked out a satisfying success.

This victory sets up a fourth round Croke Park qualifier with beaten Munster finalists Cork next Saturday.

(c)RTE SPORT

Galway: M Breathnach; D O'Neill, F Hanley, J Duane (0-01); C Doherty, G O'Donnell, G Sice (0-01); P Conroy (0-01), T Flynn; J O'Brien, S Armstrong (0-01, f), S Denvir; M Martin (0-03), M Meehan (0-04, 4fs), D Cummins (1-00). Subs: S Walsh for O'Brien (57 mins), F O'Curraoin for Armstrong (62 mins), A Varley for Meehan (66 mins), M Farragher for Martin (70 mins).

DUBLIN DEFEAT GALWAY AT CROKE PARK

 

Dublin defeat Galway at Croke Park

Dublin 2-25 Galway 2-13

Dublin won their first Leinster Senior Hurling title since 1961 with a brilliant display at Croke Park, defeating Galway by 2-25 to 2-13 in a thriller.

Dublin dominated the opening half, tightening their grip with Paul Ryan’s 24th minute goal.

Three David O’Callaghan points helped them to a 1-12 to 0-07 interval level.

Ryan smashed home his second goal five minutes into the second half, and while Galway responded with goals from Joe Canning and David Burke, they were unable to deny the dazzling Dubs.

Evenly contested for the opening 12 minutes, during which the scores were level on four occasions, the game swung emphatically in Dublin’s favour thereafter, in front of a crowd of 36,657.

Canning and Iarla Tannion traded points early on with Paul Ryan and O’Callaghan, before Anthony Daly’s men cut loose.

Performing with a freedom and a confidence that was strangely absent from the approach of their opponents, Dublin moved the ball cleverly to create scoring chances, which were expertly executed by O’Callaghan, Ryan O’Dwyer and excellent midfielder John McCaffrey.

Full-back Peter Kelly made a couple of wonderful fetches, and Danny Sutcliffe tracked back to deny a Galway side struggling to find any cohesion.

Joey Boland also landed a long range score as they moved 0-09 to 0-04 clear by the 19th minute.

And in the 24th minute, O’Callaghan, a constant tormentor with his pace, vision and movement, made an incisive run before laying off to Ryan, who drilled his shot past goalkeeper James Skehill.

Canning pulled back a couple of points from frees, but was denied by a Hawk-Eye call late in the half, after an umpire had flagged a point.

Dublin led by 1-12 to 0-07 at the interval, and Canning tried to lift his Tribal troops with a magnificent point, but Ryan responded with a stunning 1-02 salvo.

First he landed a massive free from 100 metres, then he skipped past full back Kevin Hynes to smash home a sensational goal, giving his side an 11-point cushion.

Dublin goalkeeper Gary Maguire made a brilliant save from David Burke as Galway rallied, pulling back points through Aidan Harte and Conor Cooney.

And they pulled back a goal when Canning collected a Damien Hayes delivery to drill a close range shot past Maguire.

And Galway began to believe that they could turn the game around when Burke rifled a second goal to the top corner of the net at the Hill 16 end.

But Conal Keaney provided leadership to guide Dublin out of a sticky spell, digging deep to win vital possession and firing over a long range point.

Both goalkeepers produced heroic saves in a frenetic finish, Maguire saving from Canning and Skehill denying Mark Schutte.

And it was the Dubs who had the power and strength in the limbs to finish the job off with late scores from Conor McCormack, Simon Lambert and Ryan, who finished with a 2-07 tally.

Dublin: G Maguire, N Corcoran, P Kelly, P Schutte, S Hiney, L Rushe, M Carton (0-1), J McCaffrey (0-2), J Boland (0-2), C Keaney (0-2), R O'Dwyer (0-3), D Sutcliffe (0-1), D O'Callaghan (0-4), D Treacy, P Ryan (2-7, 0-4f).

Subs: A Smith for Regan, C McCormack (0-2)for Treacy, O Gough for Schutte, S Durkin for McCaffrey, M Schutte for O’Callaghan, S Lambert (0-1) for O’Dwyer

Galway: J Skehill, F Moore, K Hynes, J Coen, D Collins, S Kavanagh, J Cooney, I Tannian (0-1), J Regan (0-1), D Burke (1-0), C Cooney (0-2), C Donnellan, D Glennon, J Canning (1-7, 0-4f), N Burke.

Subs: A Smith for Regan, D Hayes for Donnellan, A Harte (0-1) for Tannion, J Glynn (0-1) for Glennon, A Callanan for J Cooney


(c) RTE

KEANE'S HAT-TRICK FELLS THE FAROE'S

Ireland captain Robbie Keane celebrated his record breaking 126th international cap with a hat-trick as Ireland defeated the Faroe Islands 3-0 in Friday's Group C World Cup qualifier.

The LA Galaxy striker opened the scoring after five minutes following some excellent build-up play by Wes Hoolahan and Aiden McGeady, before adding his second in the 55th minute, getting on the end of a Seamus Coleman cross.

And the third goal arrived nine minutes from time as Keane rounded off a fine man of the match performance with a neat finish following an exquisite pass from substitute Conor Sammon.

The Lansdowne Road arena was bathed in sunshine for this end-of-term encounter and there was a carnival atmosphere around the streets of Dublin 4, which continued into the stadium as Ireland captain Keane celebrated his record breaking international appearance.

The Lansdowne Road arena was bathed in sunshine for this end-of-term encounter and there was a carnival atmosphere around the streets of Dublin 4, which continued into the stadium as Ireland captain Keane celebrated his record breaking international appearance.

The pre-match banter included a, perhaps tongue in cheek, remark by Faroe boss Lars Olsen that they were here to spoil the Robbie Keane party.

But that was never going to happen as Ireland signalled their intent from the off and it took less than two minutes to threaten the visitors’ goal as Aiden MeGeady cut into the box from a short corner but dragged his effort wide.

The deadlock was broken in the fifth minute. And while the record books will show that it was Keane who scored, it was Wes Hoolahan, making his first competitive start for his country, who created it.

The Norwich City playmaker linked up well with Jonathan Walters in the middle of the park before taking the ball forward and rolling in McGeady down the left flank.

The former Celtic man had plenty of space and pulled the ball back to the advancing Keane who made no mistake with the finish, smashing the ball low to the keeper’s left and into the back of the net.

It looked like goal number two was about to arrive in the 12th minute after Keane played a deft through-ball for Walters but the Stoke City striker’s shot was well blocked by Jonhard Frederiksberg who was at full stretch to prevent a certain goal.

The one-way traffic continued and it looked like Ireland would put a big score on the board with McGeady causing mayhem down the left and several half-chances falling to the Irish attack.

A training ground free-kick nearly put Keane in for his second in the 26th minute and Walters almost capitalising on a poor back-pass less than sixty seconds later, but the Faroes goalkeeper was coping with the constant pressure.

And Gunnar Nielsen pulled off a superb save in the 34th minute to keep the deficit at one.

Again McGeady twisted and turned down the left flank. His cross was only half-cleared, falling to Keane ten yards from goal. Keane smashed his volley goalwards but a strong hand from Nielsen tipped the ball over for a corner.

As half-time approached, the Faroes finally made inroads into the Ireland half after a neat Simun Samuelsen nutmeg on Marc Wilson was followed up by a clever flick by Christian Holst on the edge of the box, but the support was lacking and Ireland cleared the momentary danger.

The visitors tried to take the game back into Ireland territory early in the second half and could easily have been awarded a penalty after Sean St Ledger appeared to push Holst in the box.

The home side heeded the warning and again took the game by the scruff of the neck, with McGeady running dangerously at the Faroe defence, the Moscow-based midfielder carved out a brilliant opportunity in the 48th minute as he lifted a cross right onto Hoolahan’s head on the six-yard box.

The diminutive Hoolahan, however, could not get above the ball to guide it home and instead watched his effort sail over the bar.
But just six minutes later it was the aforementioned Hoolahan who, once again, turned provider as Ireland doubled their lead.

A clever first touch by the former Shelbourne man allowed him to burst through a gap just outside the box before rolling a great ball outside to the inrushing Coleman.

The Everton defended whipped a superb first-time ball across the six-yard box and while the arriving Walters failed to connect, the skipper was again on hand to steer the ball home at the back post.

The second goal failed to ignite the game and actually appeared to end it as a contest with both sides appearing to drop the intensity.
And that appeared to favour the visitors who almost shocked the Irish with a fine Atli Gregersen header just dipping the wrong side of the crossbar in the 77th minute.

James McClean and Conor Sammon were introduced in a Trapattoni-style shake-up and it bore fruit almost immediately as Ireland made it three in the 81st minute.

And sure enough it was the captain who completed his hat-trick on his special night, tapping home after some neat work from Sammon, who controlled a McClean cross before rolling it to Keane to finish.

Ireland now head to the USA to play the mighty Spain on Tuesday.

(c) RTE Sport