University of Galway were narrowly beaten by University of Limerick in the Sigerson Cup semi-final played at UL on Wednesday evening.
The Galway side got off to the perfect start when Darragh Neary hit the back of the net after only 20 seconds. Limerick scored the next five points without reply before Gavin Lee raised the first white flag for the sway side after 10 minutes. UL again hit five unanswered until Sam O'Farrell made it 0-10 to 1-2 after 22 minutes. Darragh McCarthy and O'Farrell exchanged points at the end of the half to leave UL 0-11 to 1-3 up at the break.
University of Galway raised three white flags in a row at the start of the second half to put the pressure on UL. And when Jack O'Neill put his side 0-16 to 1-8 up on 47 minutes, it would be the Limerick men's last score until stoppage time. Daniel Comer, Cullen Killeen, a Liam Hoare free and O'Farrell, from way out on the sideline, left only a point between the sides with eight minutes to play.
Amazingly, University of Galway were given a close-range free when Greg Thomas was fouled contesting a long ball, and O'Farrell obliged, leaving the sides deadlocked with two minutes remaining. Killeen did have a chance to put the away side in front, but his effort was narrowly wide from long range. Three minutes of stoppage time were added when McCarthy fired over two frees and despite a dramatic late scramble on the goal line University of Galway couldn't find the goal they needed to reach the Croke Park decider. 0-18 to 1-13 it finished after a titanic battle and a courageous effort from the Westerners.
Match commentary was by Ollie Turner and Andy Coen...
