February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Malachy Clerkin
Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon will contest the latter stages of this year’s National Football League after qualifying from their respective groups over the weekend.
Galway clinched their spot in the final four with a 1-18 to 2-9 victory over Kerry at Tuam Stadium. On a dirty, rainy day that you wouldn’t put a cat out in, they had too much guile and graft for the All-Ireland champions. Padriac Joyce, Michael Donnellan and Derek Savage all played majestically.
Elsewhere, Roscommon took advantage of Tyrone’s misfortune by snapping up the second spot in Div. 1A. Tyrone had already qualified for the semifinals before last week, but had to withdraw from the competition due to the discovery of a foot-and-mouth case on a farm in Ardboe. Roscommon left it late — their full-forward, Stephen Lohan, scoring a goal and a point three minutes into injury time to make them winners by 1-10 to 0-11.
In Div. 1B, Mayo, who had already qualified, drew 1-8 to 0-11 with Cavan in Breffni Park.
The other qualifiers from that division were Sligo, but they were mighty lucky to get there. The Connacht side was nervy and inept all through their encounter with Clare in Markievicz Park, eventually losing on a 1-7 to 1-9 scoreline. They survived only because Derry, shorn of several key players who live within 10 miles of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in North Tyrone, could not muster the requisite finishing prowess to beat Fermanagh in Enniskillen. Their draw meant that Sligo went through to the semifinal despite losing to Clare.
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Hurling League
Cork and Tipperary met at Semple Stadium, but there were no fireworks, no lightning bolts, no sparks. Tipperary won well, 0-20 to 2-8.
Elsewhere, Clare racked up 21 points to beat Offaly 0-21 to 1-13 in Ennis. Sterling performances from Ollie Baker and Jamesie O’Connor were the platform upon which they built and Offaly simply couldn’t live with them.
In Ballinascreen, Kilkenny hammered Derry by 2-20 to 1-07, a defeat that was every bit as convincing as it sounds. Dublin lost at home to Limerick and Waterford easily defeated Laois. In the Leinster hurling championship, Carlow beat Westmeath 2-13 to 0-14, while Kildare beat Wicklow 5-11 to 2-16 in the round-robin series.