The Galway minor footballers will look to inflict a first championship defeat on Kerry at minor level since 2013 on Sunday when the two sides meet in Croke Park in the All Ireland semi final (1.30pm). Kerry won their 7th Munster title in a row in June and followed that up with a six point quarter final win over Tyrone. Having lost the Connacht final after extra time to Mayo, Galway bounced back with a brilliant win over Kildare in the quarter final and they will look to avenge defeats to the Kingdom in 2 of the last 3 All Ireland Minor finals.
Galway's last victory over Kerry came in the 2007 semi final when a Paul Conroy captained Galway defeated the Munster side 2-14 to 0-17 in Croke Park. The Irish Independent reported:
PROVING that sheer graft and teamwork are sometimes more effective than style, Galway
But then Kerry came storming into the game to score five unanswered points in 10 minutes to go three clear themselves and the sides were level six times, including half-time, before Galway finally got ahead in the final 10 minutes.
Super-subs Justin Burke and Eoin O’Mahony played key roles – the latter scored the point of the day – as did midfield captain Paul Conroy and centre-forward Tommy Walsh.
Chief among their heroes also were attacking wing-back Conor Doherty, Damien Reddington and corner-back Keith Kelly, who did a great job when given the unenviable job of marking Kerry’s brilliant full-forward star Barry John Walsh in the second-half. Walsh and Eoin Kennedy had both amassed four points before the break, and Colm O’Shea also threatened to cut loose.
Yet Galway bounced back dramatically with two goals inside 30 seconds, 10 minutes from half-time. A long free from Michael Martyn yielded a shot from Reddington that was blocked, but Tommy Walsh netted the rebound after 25 minutes.
And on their next attack, wing-back Doherty, whose roaming upfield runs caused havoc until Eoin Kennedy was dispatched to mark him, found the net to push them a goal clear again.
But the manner of Kerry’s immediate reply, levelling it quickly (0-11 to 2-5) and not shooting one wide before the break to Galway’s five, made them ‘half-time favourites’, particularly as the Tribesmen were getting three times as many frees.
Galway went two up, Kerry equalised, and they were level twice more before Galway got a foothold, thanks to Conroy’s leadership in their dominant midfield and O’Mahony’s particularly inspirational point. Crucially they also found Reddington more, whose opening score had indicated the threat he posed. He scored twice and John O’Brien provided another as they eventually broke three points clear, and when Burke put them four ahead with a minute to go, not even a thundering late free by Walsh, deflected over the bar, could catch them.
The
Galway team that day was: Owen Higgins, Declan Rattigan,
Colin Forde, Keith Kelly, Conor Doherty (1-1), Damien O’Reilly, Tomas Fahy,
Paul Conroy (0-2), Anthony Griffin, Joe Joe Greaney, Tommy Walsh (1-1, 1f), John
O’Brien (0-1), Jonathan Ryan, Michael Martyn (0-4, 3f), Damien Reddington (0-3).
Subs: Eoin O’Mahoney (0-1) for Greaney, Justin Burke
(0-1) for Ryan.
Galway v Kerry at Minor level
1938 All Ireland semi-final: Kerry 3-9 Galway 1-4
1970 All-Ireland final: Galway 1-8 Kerry 2-5
1970 All-Ireland final replay: Galway 1-11 Kerry 1-10
1990 All-Ireland semi-final: Galway 1-9 Kerry 0-12
1990 All-Ireland semi-final replay: Kerry 2-7 Galway 0-9
1994 All-Ireland final: Kerry 0-16 Galway 1-7
2007 All-Ireland semi-final: Galway 2-14 Kerry 0-17
2016 All-Ireland final: Kerry 3-7 Galway 0-9
2018 All-Ireland final: Kerry 0-21 Galway 1-14
