The 2021 Galway Senior Football Championship has been whittled down to four teams following the conclusion of the four quarter-finals. And now there are the usual suspects at this business end of the championship.
Mountbellew-Moylough are drawn to face champions Moycullen in a rematch of last year’s final, and Corofin will face the surprise semi-finalists Killannin in the other semi. Both games will be played on the weekend of October 30/31.
The first of the quarter-finals was the thrilling contest between Mountbellew-Moylough and Annaghdown which took place in a rainswept Tuam Stadium on Saturday.
Annaghdown manager Kieran Murphy faced his former troops, Mountbellew-Moylough who dominated the opening exchanges as Mike Daly, Eoin Finnerty, Patrick Kelly, Barry McHugh and Matthew Barrett were all the scoreboard to lead by 1-05 to 0-01.
Last year’s beaten finalists controlled most of the game from here up until the 50th minute when they were leading 1-10 to 0-06. Then the drama began. Annaghdown clawed their way back into the game with their talisman Damien Comer leading the charge, scoring three points, along with an Enda Mullarkey point, to put a goal between the sides.
The last play of normal time saw Annaghdown goalkeeper James Healy launch a wonderful flighted ball into the square which Damien Comer fisted to the net on the rebound to bring the game to extra time.
However, Mountbellew-Moylough quickly put the game to bed in extra time as James Foley, Eoin Finnerty and Paul Donellan all netted in the first period of extra time. The contest finished on a scoreline of 4-12 to 2-13.
The clash of Corofin and Milltown, played on Saturday immediately after, did not reproduce the same excitement. The teams exchanged two points apiece at the beginning before Corofin began to stamp their authority on proceedings.
A blistering 15- minute spell saw Corofin outscore their opponents 1-4 to 0-1 to enter the half-time break 1-07 to 0-03 in front and the game effectively finished as a contest.
Milltown were reduced to 14 men in the second half as Sean Blake received two yellows. To their credit, they never gave up and kept plugging away, but the result was never in doubt as Corofin prevailed by 1-12 to 0-08.
Pearse Stadium was the host of Sunday's quarter-finals - the local western derby between Killannin and Oughterard preceding Tuam Stars versus Moycullen.
Killannin dominated the first half, albeit aided by a significant breeze, and were greatly assisted by a goalkeeping error from a kickout that allowed Ruairi Greene to raise a green flag in the second minute, giving Oughterard an uphill task.
At half-time the score reflected Killannin’s dominance as they led by 1-05 to 0-02, Enda Kelly’s kicking was a feature throughout this period.
Oughterard, however, bolted out of the traps in the second half with 1-02 of their own as Niall Lee capitalised on another goalkeeping error to net for his side.
However, after this purple patch Killannin regrouped and tagged on points at the other end, managing to keep Oughterard at arm' s length for the remainder of the game as it ended Killannin 1-11 Oughterard 1-08.
Moycullen then faced Tuam Stars for the third year in succession, and it was a last-gasp winner from man of the match Peter Cooke who ensured Moycullen progressed to their third consecutive semi-final.
Tuam Stars will be kicking themselves as they coughed up a four-point lead heading into the final quarter, a similar tale to their group game against St James’.
The platform for this lead was laid by a Jamie Murphy penalty and the outstanding Brian Mannion, who took county star Sean Kelly to the cleaners with an exceptional performance of ball winning and point taking, finishing with a personal tally of 0-06.
Moycullen stayed in touch through Dessie Conneely frees and Peter Cooke’s long-range placed balls, which were a joy to watch.
As Moycullen fought back into the game in the final quarter, it was Cooke who led the charge. It was only fitting then that it was Cooke who had the final word in the third minute of injury time with a pressure strike to send his team through on a scoreline of 0-16 to 1-12.
