DRAW WITH DERRY LEAVES MIXED EMOTIONS
HONOURS even after a chaotic finish in Celtic Park with a night and day performance leaving mixed emotions for Galway.
That they got themselves into a winning position, leading by nine points at half-time but failing to see it out, will gnaw away this week. That's the glass half-empty view.
The glass half-full is that they played a terrific first half, got away with an abject second and remain unbeaten in 2025, sitting second in Division 1 tucked in behind Donegal — the form team in the country.
Dylan McHugh's well-worked goal, a pair of Shane Walsh two-pointers plus a series of magnificent John Maher blocks were the highlights in building up a 1-10 to 0-4 interval lead.
Inspired by sub Lachlan Murray, Derry dominated the second half and had their conversion rate been a tad higher than 11 from 21 shots after the break, they would have grabbed their first win of the campaign rather than a 1-13 to 0-16 draw.
In the end, Galway were indebted to John Daly for denying Ethan Doherty a match-winner with just seconds left on the clock.
The Northern swing continues for Padraic Joyce's side this weekend with Jim McGuinness' high-flying Donegal the visitors to Salthill (throw-in: 3.45pm).
Win and top spot will be Galway's ahead of their fixtures with Tyrone, Dublin and Kerry. Defeat, however, and they would likely drop out of the top two.
Read our extensive coverage of the weekend clash in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald, in shops now or buy our digital edition here