It may have taken a bit of luck at the death and Gerard O’Donoghue’s very late strike for the equalising goal was to quote his manager a bit “dithery”, but the Galway minors deserve credit for their doggedness and perseverance in sticking to their guns and keeping plugging away to eke out a draw in normal time.
Incredibly Croke Park had not informed either camp that there was to be extra time and it came as quite a shock to both managements and their charges.
However after being told they had to fight it out for another 20 minutes, it was Galway, led by their captain Shane Maloney who shot four points in extra-time, who came out well on top. Galway manager Mattie Murphy was understandably not too happy with the circumstances that led both sides to extra time and he was forthright in his comments.
"Nobody knew about extra-time but sure they don’t need to tell us these things. They can reschedule matches as they go along."
Clare, who had looked destined to win after a convincing first half, were second best throughout extra-time. The Banner were four points ahead at the normal time interval, 0-9 to 0-5. But they had seen that lead evaporate by the 42nd minute when Maloney slotted over a free, Galway’s fourth score on the bounce.
An Oisín Hickey goal for Clare in the 50th minute seemed to give the Munster men the leg-up they needed to go on and win the game.
But credit to Galway who would not be shaken off. A Cunningham point in added time to put Clare ahead by three was immediately followed by O’Donoghue’s ground shot to the Clare net.
Once the game went into injury time, Galway looked the more likely winners. They were ahead at the half time break, 1-19 to 1-16, after Maloney (twice ) and subs Michael Mullins and Jack Carr pointed in contrast to a weary Clare whose only point came from Colm Galvin. And Galway went on to win on a score-line of 1-23 to 1-18 and book a place in the final against either Waterford or Dublin on the first week in September.
Scorers for Galway: S Maloney 0-10 (7f ); G O’Donoghue 1-2; J Carr 0-3; D Higgins, P Brehony 0-2 each; B Lane, J Hanabary, M Mullins, B Molloy 0-1 each.
Galway: S Mannion; O Teagle, P Killeen, C Diviney; J Hanabary, S Sweeney, P Mannion; B Lane, P Brehony; J Flynn, J Glynn, A Tuohy; G O’Donoghue, S Maloney, K Cullinane.
Subs: J Carr for Cullinane (h-t ); D Higgins for Tuohy (38 ); B Molloy for Lane (48 ); M Mullins for Flynn (54 ); P Flaherty for O’Donoghue (69 ); S Caulfield for Killeen (74 ); B Keane for Hanabary (80 ).
