Semi-Final
S&F Utd 3
Moran 20, Gaughan 58, Costello 90 + 2
Galway Hibs 4
Curran 17, Lally 49, Maher 73, 88
Daniel Carey
Foxford
THE future may be orange, but the immediate future is not. Seven goals and two red cards … last Sunday was no ordinary day at Green Road. A journey which began in the depths of winter ended in the glorious sunshine of late spring, after a highly eventful Connacht Cup semi-final.
Galway Hibs were first on the field – “We’re on Galway time”, one of them cracked – as an apparent socks clash delayed the home team’s entrance. While Michael Costello and the outstanding Ashley Atkinson were prominent early on, it was the visitors who had the first real chance, Jason Curran firing over from a half volley after 17 minutes. Four minutes later, United failed to clear and Curran took full advantage, firing home from 12 yards.
Straide and Foxford were level by the 20th minute. Paul Moran chased Gerard Gaughan’s fine through ball and got the ball beyond Hibs goalkeeper Mark Cobey, who might have done better. Cobey reacted quickest soon after when Moran went after Seán Walsh’s crossfield pass.
Though playing second fiddle in the air, S&F appeared to have got to grips with their opponents. “It’s coming,” Aiden Flatley encouraged his troops, but it was still 1-1 at the interval.
Four minutes after the restart, Derek Lally’s left-footed effort found the net from long range. Young Darren Flatley has been a star of United’s cup campaign, but this was a bad goal to concede.
Seven minutes later, the hosts’ task was made more difficult as Chris Downey was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident which left Hibs’ Dave Butterfield needing treatment. Yet in the face of adversity, the Mayo side bounced back in style. Another crossfield ball from Walsh found Moran, who played the ball for Gaughan. He unleashed a fearsome shot which struck the underside of the bar, bounced down Geoff Hurst-style, and was flagged as a goal by the (non-Russian) assistant referee, who insisted it was ‘a yard’ over the line.
Ten-man S&F almost hit the front moments later, after Paul Fitzpatrick finished a mazy run with a great shot from out on the left. It deserved a goal, but came off the butt of the post. Play was held up shortly afterwards as a group were asked to vacate the area behind the United goal – there was talk of verbal abuse, and a call to the Gardaí apparently followed.
Hibs’ numerical advantage began to tell, and Keith Ward drew a decent stop from Flatley, who denied the same player with 17 minutes remaining only to see Shane Maher net the rebound, making the score 3-2 in Hibs’ favour. The goalkeeper then made an outstanding double save to keep out efforts from Stephen Walsh and Gary Kelly, but a third equaliser seemed unlikely.
When the next goal arrived, it came again from Shane Maher – and from all of 40 yards out on the right hand touchline. The speculative effort seemed to catch the goalkeeper unawares and made it 4-2 to Hibs. But the drama wasn’t over.
The last two incidents of note both involved the impressive Michael Costello – who scored United’s third after Hibs goalkeeper Cobey failed to gather Johnny Jordan’s lob, and was promptly sent off after an incident in the immediate aftermath. Even then, the nine men of S&F didn’t give up, but there was to be no last-minute reprieve.
S&F United
D Flatley, P Reid, A Atkinson, J Jordan, M Costello, S Bourke, G Gaughan, S Walsh, C Downey, P Fitzpatrick, P Moran.
Subs used: S Hughes for Bourke (58); M Smyth or Walsh (75).
Galway Hibs
M Cobey, D Butterfield, P Loughlin, S Walsh, B Griffin, D Lally, S Maher, G Kelly, J Curran, K Ward, D McDonagh.
Subs used: R O’Shannon for Maher (89); F Keady for Curran (90).
Referee: E Deering (Roscommon and District League)
