After the total cake-walk and bore-fest between Milltown and Corofin in the first semi-final, most supporters were delighted that Barna and St Michael’s served up an entertaining and close encounter at Tuam Stadium on Sunday which ended in a 0-12 to 0-12 draw.
The replay of this game is expected to be fixed for October 12 as many of the St Michael’s players, such as Eamon Brannigan and John Hansbury, are also dual players with Rahoon/Newcastle who have hurling commitments this weekend.
St Michael's were first out of the traps, started brightly, and had some good scores from Greg Rogan and Keith Ward at corner forward to settle any early nerves as they raced into an early three-point lead.
The city side, under the guidance of John Kenny, looked the better at that stage and deservedly led by 0-8 to 0-5 at half time. Pat Fallon's Barna were heavily reliant on the boot of Jason Lyons who kicked some good frees and they also had a good score from the hard-working Paddy Kennedy, while wing-forward Ray Conneely was also on the score-sheet in that half.
St Michael’s, with Frank Daly, Alan Glynn and team captain Eddie Hoare influential, managed to get into a match-winning position and led by three points, 0-11 to 0-8, going into the last 10 minutes.
However Barna responded, kicking four points without reply, two from Jason Lyons ,who scored six points in total, and one from Declan Walsh, before easing into a one point lead from the boot of substitute DD Flaherty deep into injury time.
However St Michael's centre-forward Greg Rogan kicked their equaliser from a contentious free to send the game to a replay.
Barna selector and team trainer Seán Conlan was also announced as a selector with new Galway manager Kevin Walsh on Monday night.
