Galway and Donegal shared the spoils in a tight Division 1 encounter played at a wet and windy Ballyshannon on Sunday afternoon.
Donegal, who are unbeaten in Ballyshannon since 2009, grabbed the only goal of the game in the first half. Conor O'Donnell battled hard to win a Gavin Mulreany kickout. He raced forward and lashed home past Conor Gleeson in the Galway goal to put the home side 1-4 to 0-5 up. Mulreany added a two-point free to double his side's lead, before Ciaran Mulhearn and Shane McGrath cancelled it out immediately. Oisin MacDonnacha got Galway back within one, and on 28 minutes raised an orange flag to put the tribesmen ahead. After Donegal captain Michael Langan was shown a black card, Matthew Tierney, Liam O'Conghaile and MacDonnacha had the visitors 0-13 to 1-7 in front at the interval.
Mulhearn and MacDonnacha worked hard to keep the Galway scoreboard ticking at the start of the second half, and on 44 minutes, Padraig Joyce's side had a six-point lead. Stephen McMenmain was dismissed for a second yellow, and the home side now faced an uphill battle, but they seemed to rally as Finbarr Roarty and Jason McGee had them within three again. With the gap at two and 68 minutes on the clock, up stepped Peadar Mogan off his left foot from beyond the arc to level the game. Paul Conroy would get a late chance from a tight angle that would ultimately sail wide, and so the spoils were shared.
Galway now sit in sixth place in the National League Division 1 table, on four points. Next up is a trip to Iniskeen to face Monaghan in 2 weeks time.
Padraig Joyce spoke to the assembled media after the game, including Galway Bay FM's Jonathan Higgins. He was first asked if the game was the one that got away...
