Galway United's FAI Cup adventure is over and only the satisfaction of a journey bravely undertaken remains after an eventful semi-final tie at Terryland Park yesterday.
Goals by Donal O'Brien and Jonathan Speak took Finn Harps to their first final in 25 years and left the First Division club to ruminate on the wages of a crass error after only three minutes.
Sweat had scarcely been broken when O'Brien put the Donegal team in front with a classic strike of its type. With the home defence caught ball-watching as Eamonn Kavanagh arced a free-kick into the six-yard area, the midfielder stole in unnoticed to volley the ball home.
That was a mistake which might have unnerved more mature cup campaigners. The measure of Galway's resilience, however, was that out of that shattering start they fashioned a performance of such character that they would scarcely have been flattered by a second chance.
Harps, stung by two recent championship defeats and subjected to some criticism for their role in the unhappy Kilkenny City saga, came good at last on the day it mattered most.
"This was a game in which we had to be fully competitive and after failing to perform in our last two games, we achieved that today", said manager Charlie McGeever afterwards.
When the Premier Division team needed to be resourceful, it was the familiar frame of Declan Boyle, supported on this occasion by Shane Bradley in central defence, who showed the way. Jonathan Minnock, Tom Mohan and Speak were others to grow tall on the occasion, but ultimately it was O'Brien who deserved to walk away with the man-of-the-match rating.
Never less than industrious, his physical presence kept his teammates afloat in a heavyweight struggle. And apart from that precious early strike, his skill opened the way to the winner by Speak in the 59th minute.
Timing the jump precisely, he headed Minnock's free-kick directly into the path of Speak and the veteran forward held his nerve and his composure to steer the ball past Mark Cobey. That came after Michael Keane had snatched a dramatic Galway equaliser in injury-time in the first-half. Ian Rossiter's corner somehow eluded the big men in the visitors' defence and Keane came rampaging through to head powerfully to the net.
It was no more than the First Division club deserved for the accumulative efforts of Billy Clery, Fran Carter and not least, the dashing Luther Watson in attack. But in the end, they lacked the firepower to take their fairytale a stage further.
If O'Brien's early goal fell like the clap of doom on the Galway supporters, the effect on the home team was to fire them to a frenetic counter charge. It was now all hands to the wheel and in the four turbulent minutes which followed they might have scored on any one of three occasions.
Kavanagh couldn't make the decisive contact however from Gareth Gorman's cross, Bradley got in the way of Ricky O'Flaherty's shot to deflect it wide and then O'Flaherty, given a free header off Clery's long cross, directed it straight at Brian McKenna.
That was as thrilling a start to a cup semi-final as any of us could remember but gradually, inexorably Harps emerged to pose pertinent questions of the home defence.
Minnock's 20-yard free-kick bounced over off the top of the crossbar and when Speak, earlier booked for upending Daragh Sheridan, clattered into Rossiter, the home supporters lost no time in reminding referee Hugh Byrne of his obligations.
Byrne rightly resisted the demands to produce a red card, but stood indicted of curious indifference shortly afterwards when Gorman lunged at Pascal Vaudequin in reckless fashion.
A badly-gashed right leg testified to the extent of the contact as Vaudequin was stretchered off but remarkably Gorman escaped without even an admonition. Generally however that was out of character with the trend of a game contested with a lot of passion but thankfully, only the occasional flash of rancour.
Before the end, James Mulligan was denied a third goal by Clery's timely intervention, but that, it ought be recorded, was sandwiched between some torrid Galway pressure. Watson, displaying breathtaking close control at times, beat Boyle's challenge, nutmegged Brian McKenna with the shot but then watched in anguish as Bradley scampered back to make the desperate goal-line clearance. In a sense it said it all about Galway's luck on the day.
GALWAY UNITED: M Cobey; I Rossiter, F Carter, B Clery, M Quirke; D Sheridan, M Keane, A Dolan, G Gorman; R O' Flaherty, L Watson. Subs: E Levine for O' Flaherty (69 minutes); R Lucas for Gorman (81 minutes); P Thornton for Watson (82 minutes).
FINN HARPS: B McKenna; P Vaudequin, D Boyle, S Bradley, J Minnock; T Mohan, D O' Brien, F Harkin, E Kavanagh; J Speak, J Mulligan. Subs: J G McGettigan for Vaudequin (41 minutes); K McHugh for Mulligan (92 minutes).
Referee: H Byrne (Dublin).
