GAA Digest: Kerry and Mayo will meet again

Captain Johnny Doyle was Kildare’s late hero as his stoppage time goal from a penalty away to Galway earned his side promotion from Division Two of the NFL and a place in the league final.

Kildare will meet Tyrone now after Doyle’s penalty -- awarded when Emmet Bolton was fouled in the third minute of extra-time -- proved decisive.

“Johnny is cool under pressure and he slotted it home,” said McGeeney. “We are very relieved. Our second half, for 25 minutes was as poor as we played this year.

“We just took our foot off the pedal and if you do that against a good team you are going to get punished, and we did.”

Tyrone are next up for Kildare. McGeeney added, “It’ll be a good game. The way they are playing at the minute they seem to be untouchable. We’ll try and give it our best shot.

“Going up to Division One is a nice thing but for us it is all about building for the summer and building towards that.”

Galway just missed out on promotion and manager Alan Mulholland admitted, “I am fairly sickened alight. We played extremely well in the second-half.

“Looking at the game as a whole it is very positive. We competed with Kildare; we nearly owned the ball in the second half.

“I really thought we were there, I thought we were up to Division One. But that is sport, the last kick of the game and we have to go through Division Two again next year.”
 
Louth Wins

Meath boss Seamus McEnaney has refused to give in to calls for his resignation after Sunday’s derby defeat to Louth in Navan saw his side relegated from Division Two of the league as the Wee County stayed up on the back of a sweet win.

“I have been involved in a lot of fights in my life, in my business, personal, in my family, and in football,” said McEnaney after a nine-point defeat.

“I have never walked away from a fight in my life.  This is a fight and it is a fight we have to get on with. I am not shirking any responsibility, it is the manager’s job to get the best out of his players.

“I am not getting the best out of them at the moment. The players are giving me everything they can in training, we are just not playing as well as we can.  Our form has been very poor for the past four games.”
 
Galway Patience

Galway fans have been urged to be patient with their youthful team ahead of Sunday’s relegation playoff against Dublin.

Forward Damien Hayes, one of the oldest players on Anthony Cunningham’s squad, believes the new look team needs time to gel.

He said, “We haven’t made it to August in the championship since 2005, when we got to the All-Ireland final.

“Joe Canning has never played senior championship hurling for Galway in August. It’s going to happen sometime, but we’re in transition.

“Between this year’s and last year’s panel, we have 18 under-21s in our squad. The most important thing for the Walsh Cup, the Railway Cup and the league was to see that those lads were blooded, to see who’s stepping up to the mark and who wasn’t.”
 
Final Games

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