Galway defeated Armagh after a dramatic encounter in the All-Ireland quarter-finals at Croke Park on Sunday. It took extra-time and a penalty shootout to separate the two sides.
Cillian McDaid was the Man of the Match for Galway. The Monivea-Abbey man scored 1-2. His goal came in the second half of extra-time, just minutes after Armagh's Rory Grugan had scored his side's third of the match.
McDaid also scored the equalising point for Galway at the end of extra-time to tie the game at 2-21 to 3-18 and send it to penalties.
"Best day in a maroon shirt so far," McDaid told RTÉ.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game. We pushed five or six ahead when they went to 14 men but it was never going to be over. They have top, top quality forwards, midfielders, and backs. It was always going to come down the stretch. As the crowd came in, it got louder, the atmosphere went up, it was always going to be tight."
As the players left the pitch at the end of normal time following Rian O'Neill's sensational equalising free, a melee broke out.
26 June 2022; Rian O'Neill of Armagh in action against Cillian McDaid of Galway during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter-Final match between Armagh and Galway at Croke Park, Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
"Everyone was calm," said McDaid about the atmosphere in the Galway dressing room.
"There was a bit of a fracas on the way in, but that nearly gave us a bit of a wake-up call because we fell asleep for the last five minutes of the game. That kind of brought us back into it. We were calm when we went in; we regrouped, fuelled up, and just went again.
"We've practised our penalties a couple of times in challenge games recently. It bore fruit there."
Matthew Tierney scores the winning penalty to book @Galway_GAA's spot in the All-Ireland Semi-Finals. pic.twitter.com/xplDy0qV1H
— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 26, 2022
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