Mayo let Galway off the hook with late penalty miss
Mayo 3-6
Galway 1-12
MAYO and Galway will have to do it all over again to decide who will win this years Connaught championship senior title following their draw in Elverys MacHale Park, Castlebar.
In what was a very excirting and entertaining decider both sides had their chances to win it with five minutes remaining when the scoreboard showed the sides level.
However, while a draw was a fair result in the end I am sure Mayo will feel they had a great chance of winning.
Four points down at half time, 1-6 to 0-5, it didn't look great for Mayo at the break as they had played with the slight wind.
They conceded the goal as early as the second minute when Louise Ward waltzed through the defence before firing past Mayo 'keeper Aisling Tarpey. However, they kept battling away after this early body blow.
A minute after the resumption Mayo fell five points behind. But for the following 15 minutes they outscored their opponents by 3-1 to 0-4 to turn a five-point deficit into a one-point lead. Mayo goals came from Rachel Kearns, Eilis Roynayne and Grace Kelly.
Indeed, during this period of dominance they could have built up a more healthy lead as they missed a number of good came, especially from frees and a penalty kick.
Five minutes from time Galway did manage to draw level with a Treacy Leonard point from play. While both sides did have one or two chances to get the winner most would agree that both teams deserved to fight another day.
The replay will be played next Sunday week with a venue yet to be decided.
Mayo: A. Tarpey, N. O'Malley, R. Flynn, D. Caldwell, E. Royayne (1-0), Ciara McManamon, Ciara Whyte, Clodagh McManamon, S. Cafferky (0-1), R. Durkin, T. O'Connor, N. Kelly (0-1), S. Rowe (0-2), R. Kearns (1-2), G. Kelly (1-0).
Subs used: K. Sullivan, F. Doherty, D. Finn, E. Needham, N. Moran.
Galway: L. Murphy, S. Molloy, S. Lynch, F. Cooney, B. Hannon, S. Burke, C. Cooney, L. Ward (1-0), Á. McDonagh (0-1), O. Divilly (0-1), T. Leonard (0-6), M. Glynn (0-1), L. Coen, R. Leonard (0-1), S. Conneally (0-2).
Subs used: M. Seoighe, D. Gower, O. Murphy, N. Ward.
Referee: J. Nyland (Sligo).