Galway produced a dramatic comeback to salvage a point against All-Ireland Champions Kerry in Round 3 of the National Football League Division 1 in Tralee on Saturday evening. Kerry started strong, with Dylan Casey, Micheál Burns, Keith Evans and Cillian Trant putting the Kingdom 0-4 to 0-2 in the ascendancy after 18 minutes. It was Evans who hit the first of the evening's goals after Tony Brosnan's initial effort was denied by Eamonn McGrath. But Galway hit straight back, and from McGrath's kickout, Galway were patient in their passing before Matthew Tierney found a gap in behind the Kerry rearguard and coolly slotted past Shane Murphy.
David Clifford then kicked into gear, with back-to-back two-pointers and a white flag raiser from play either side of a Matthew Thompson point for the away side. On 26 minutes, a dropped ball from Galway keeper McGrath left Clifford with the simplest of finishes to extend the lead to 2-8 to 1-3. The hosts kicked on to hold a commanding 2-10 to 1-3 advantage at the break.
Two pointers from Oisín MacDonnacha and Shane McGrath, and a well-taken score from Finnian O'Laoi had the gap at nine points on 49 minutes. David Clifford would extend this to ten again, but Galway then began to really kick into gear. Matthew Tierney's two-point free and a point from play by Daniel O'Flaherty cut the advantage to seven points with 10 minutes to go. The Fossa club man Clifford again did his best to push Kerry towards the finish line with another point from play, but Cian Hernon put the Westerners right back in the mix with a well-taken goal on 61 minutes. Crucially, three minutes later, Shane McGrath drove through the heart of the home defence and teed up the captain John Maher, who rattled the net to put Padraic Joyce's side back within two, 2-16 to 3-11.
Dylan Casey put Kerry back in a two-point lead, and with only a minute on the clock, Shane McGrath sold a dummy and rifled a two-pointer over the bar to level the game. There was to be one last chance for David Clifford, which failed to raise a match-winning white flag, and so it finished at Austin Stack Park, 2-17 to 3-14, one of the great Galway comebacks.
Padraic Joyce's side will now turn attention to a local derby against Roscommon on Saturday, 21st February at Pearse Stadium at 7 pm.
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Commentary of the game was from Jonathan Higgins and Gareth Bradshaw:
Jonathan Higgins spoke to the Galway Senior Football Manager Padraic Joyce after the game, who was delighted with his side's comeback, and also confirmed that Paul Conroy has committed to the panel for 2026...
Jonathan also spoke to Dunmore club man Shane McGrath, who scored the crucial equaliser for Galway...
