Cork 3-15
Galway 5-8

FRANK FARRAGHER
at croke park

FANTASTY football . . . but all played out on the lush sward of Croke Park on the last Sunday of the summer as the minor footballers of Cork and Galway faced up to each other in a shoot-out of O.K. Corral intensity.

However when both magazines were emptied, it was Cork that were still upright – but only just – after withstanding a series of goal hits which could have destroyed a side of lesser character.

This was one for the full range of emotions – anticipation, hope, despair, disappointment and elation – as goals and points rained in at both ends as if there was no tomorrow.

It was rousing entertainment with at least a dozen goal chances created during the course of the hour but one point games are all about who wins – gallant losers tend to be erased from the memory bank after a few weeks.

This was almost like a return to lost innocence in the world of sport. Both teams were only interested in charging forward, and like a childhood game in the backgarden it seemed for long periods as if only goals counted.

Defence just wasn’t on the agenda once the action started at the Jones’ Road venue by 1.30 on Sunday and while it must be admitted that Cork looked a slightly stronger all-round team, the Galway forwards delivered a series of savage hits on their defence.

Defeated with five goals on their scoresheet and having enjoyed a nine point lead on the cusp of the last quarter, Galway will get into the quirky section of the record books but the ledger of history will have bitter-sweet memories for Gerry Fahy’s side.

Maybe Galway played with their hearts and their passion a bit too much when firing themselves into 5-6 to 2-6 lead by the 44th minute and by then Cork really had to get another goal to haul themselves back into contention . . . maybe then it was time to shut up shop, play a sweeper in front of the full backline, and try to contain the Munster men.
That analysis though also has to be tainted by the coldness of hindsight, for this match had a life and energy all of its own – it was a contest that just spiralled out of control in the most swashbuckling manner, but all in a riotous explosion of attacking fervour.

Cork always held a midfield and overall possession edge and at times during the first half when they either moved the ball quickly, or ran like Olympic sprinters at the Galway defence, there were fears of a serious western submergence.

Galway though were devastating on the counter attack and pieced together some of the best attacking moves that we have seen since the Joyce-Donnellan vintage days around the turn of this century.
Twice at either end of the first half, Micheál Breathnach’s Peadar Ó Griofa – a real attacking prospect for the future at a higher level – found the Cork net, firstly with a flick on a Niall Walsh cross and then at the death when fetching a Daithi Burke lob before rattling the net.
 

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.