Galway 3-15
Down 1-13

Galway struck three second-half goals to see off Down this afternoon and leave themselves within touching distance of promotion to Division 1.

Eamonn Brannigan (2) and Shane Walsh fired in the majors in Newry after the home side had produced a fine first-half performance to leave things all square on 0-8 apiece at the break.

However, a Brannigan penalty was backed up by Walsh hitting the net early in the restart to knock the stuffing out of the hosts and the winners could even afford to have defender Declan Kyne sent off on 45 minutes and ship a Barry O'Hagan goal four minutes later, as the Mourne men's relegation fate will now be decided next weekend.

Walsh had been in fine form from the start of this contest, kicking two early points which had the Connacht champions 0-4 to 0-2 in front but the hosts weren't willing to keep things to script during the opening 35 minutes.

The teams would be level six times during that period as two long range points from Caolan Mooney and three scores from Darragh O'Hanlon made sure that Down went in level by the halfway stage.

Eamonn Burns' side did not enjoy a good restart however, with goalkeeper Michael Cunningham getting himself red-carded for fouling Gary Sice in his square and Brannigan slotting home the resultant penalty.

Walsh had the ball in the home side's net within 60 seconds and despite being reduced to 14 and conceding that O'Hagan goal, Kevin Walsh's charges kept their cool as Brannigan buried in a second major to leave his side on the cusp of a return to the top flight for the first time in seven years.

Galway - R Lavelle; D Wynne, D Kyne (0-1), C Sweeney; G O'Donnell (0-2), M Farragher (0-1), J Heaney; P Conroy (0-1f), F O Curraoin; T Flynn, S Walsh (1-3), E Brannigan (2-1, 1-0pen); G Sice (0-3, 1f), B McHugh (0-3, 2f, 1'45), S Armstrong. Subs: L Silke for D Wynne, M Lundy for S Armstrong, D Cummins for S Walsh, G Bradshaw for B McHugh, R Steede for E Brannigan.

Down - M Cunningham; R McAleenan, B McArdle, D O'Hagan; D O'Hanlon (0-8, 5f), C McGovern, C Mooney (0-2); A Carr, P Turley; K McKernan, C Maginn, J Murphy; S Millar (0-1), B O'Hagan (1-0), R Johnston (0-2). Subs: M Reid for M Cunningham (BC), C Magee for A Carr, J Johnston for J Murphy, P Devlin for S Millar, J Flynn for C Mooney (BC).

Referee - P Neilan.

Tweet

Most Read Stories