Galway Ladies are clear leaders of the Tesco Homegrown NFL division 2 after a 3-13 to 2-6 win over Westmeath in Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash.
Both teams were unbeaten going into this game, but Galway secured their place in the league semi-final with a well-deserved victory at Annaghdown.
Supermacs-sponsored Galway were first off the mark with a Roisin Leonard free, but Fiona Leavy scored a goal in the sixth minute to give Westmeath the lead.
Galway responded in kind with Ger Conneally hitting the back of the net five minues later, and they followed up with a 14th minute Leonard goal and a Barbara Hannon point.
Westmeath, however, always looked threatening, and in the 20th minute fullforward Fiona Leavy bagged her second goal, before Galway closed the half with points from Hannon, Gillian O’Connor and Aoibheann Daly to lead by 2-5 to 2-0.
Westmeath enjoyed a purple patch after the restart when Galway were reduced to 14 players, and a free and three points put Galway under pressure, before Leonard pointed a free to put four between the teams.
Still Westmeath hit back with two Leavy frees to leave just two between the sides, until Galway regained their composure. An Annette Clarke goal and two Leonard points opened the gap again, and Galway never looked back.
GALWAY: J Connolly, N Connolly, M Coyne, O Dixon, R McPhilbin (0-1 ), E Flaherty, S Burke (cpt ), A Clarke (1-1 ), G Conneally (1-0 ), A Daly (0-1 ), C Cormican (0-2 ), R Leonard (1-5 ), B Hannon (0-2 ) Gillian O”Connor (0-1 ), L Joyce. SUBS: L Ward for Joyce, O Divilly for O’Connor, C Cooney for Daly, A Connaughton for Dixon.
