It was a great day of Championship football yesterday with drama up and down the country. One game that served up some of the best drama of the day was at Markievicz Park as Galway scraped past Sligo in the Connacht Football Semi-finals after injury time Rob Finnerty goal.
Galway hadn't been at the races all day, failing to look like the side that won Connacht last year and reached the All-Ireland final in 2022.
With the clock ticking into injury time Sligo were up by a point as it looked like an upset was on the cards. However after some good play Johnny Heaney was able to tee the ball up to Rob Finnerty to score into an empty net and give the Tribesmen a place in the Connacht final next week.
It was a particularly cool-headed finish from Finnerty and he channeled in-form Chelsea man Cole Palmer in his 'cold' celebration after scoring the winner.
Not a minute too soon @Galway_GAA pic.twitter.com/zbGsYZ97qt
— John Gillespie (@PRO_Galway_Ball) April 20, 2024
Padraic Joyce Believes Galway Were Lucky To Win
It's clear Galway didn't put in the performance expected of them. They have high ambitions for Championship this year and losing in the Connacht semis would've been disappointing for them and their manager Padraic Joyce.
Speaking after the game Joyce didn't hold back and said that his team were second best and were fortunate to come away from Sligo with a win.
We played second fiddle all day and we didn't get into the game and I actually feel sorry for Sligo with the way they played.
I suppose our lads stuck in the game and showed a bit of character and the goal at the end, we know we're lucky to get out of it.
Look, we worked the goal well, it was probably an easier option to punch over the bar and level the game, but overall we are not happy with that game. The way Sligo bossed the game, the way they controlled the game, they were unlucky not to see it out.
Joyce also said questioned his team's mentality pre-match, after travelling back from London during the week and being favourites for this match.
We had a few days in London and we back and trained really well but we live to fight another day. We had our tactics there but you can't apply a game-plan when you're not tuned in attitude wise, and we just weren't today.
Look it, it's a Saturday half-three game, it's hard to get motivated for that, which is not an excuse. The performance wasn't good enough and we are very lucky to be in the Connacht final
The tribesmen will now face the winner of Roscommon-Mayo in the final of the Connacht Football Championship and it's fair to say Galway will need to step up their game for that matchup.
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