The Galway minor side recovered from their thrilling loss to Mayo to defeat the Leinster champions Kildare on a score line of 2-17 to 0-15.
Leading for the entire game thanks to a goal from midfielder James McLaughlin after just 10 seconds Galway put down a marker before they face Kerry yet again in the All Ireland semi-final in a fortnight’s time. This will be Galway’s third time facing Kerry in five years, previously losing two finals to the Kingdom.
The Tribesmen never trailed in this enthralling match. Having seen Mayo dispatch Dublin in the first game of the day and seeing the county’s U20 side lose out to Dublin, Galway needed to put a marker down in the final game of the day.
A narrow two-point lead at half time meant Galway would have to start the second half in the same way they started the first. They duly obliged and went six ahead before Kildare mounted a come-back. With 10 minutes left, Galway again led by just two points before a powerful run by centre forward Warren Seoige set up Nathan Grainger for the simplest of finishes. Galway went on to score another four points in the closing stages with the Lilywhites only capable of one more point.
The winning side's scorers were very well spread out with six players totalling two points or more. Galway’s full forward line of Grainger, Culhane, and Cox as well as centre forward Seoige causing all sorts of trouble for the Kildare defence right throughout the 60 minutes. McLaughlin and O’Flaherty stood strong in midfield while the six defenders allied by the hard-working Dylan Brady all performed admirably as a unit.
Having lost to Kerry in 2018 manager Donal O’Fatharta will be hoping to turn the tables in the semi-final on the six in a row chasing Kerry side. Kerry are having an unprecedented run of success at minor level, currently 34 games unbeaten having not lost a match since 2014. The match will be played as a double header with the second All-Ireland senior semi-final on Sunday August 11. With both sides continuing to play attacking football there is sure to be a fine crowd in to watch this display.
Galway: D Halleran, J McGrath, R King, L Tevnen, C Hernon, E Fiorentini, K O’Neill, J McLaughlin, D O’Flaherty, E Nolan, W Seoige, D Brady, N Grainger, T Culhane, D Cox.
