Galway 0-16 London 1-09: Tribesmen escape with a win from Ruislip

Galway endured an uncomfortable start to their Connacht Championship defence after they were made to fight all the way a gutsy London side.

Inspired in the main by the London-born players in their starting team, London may well view this as an opportunity missed having spurned a brilliant goal chance that would have levelled the contest in the dying minutes.

With 13 English-born players on their panel, Ciaran Deely’s side struck a superb first-half goal through Killian Butler which brought them storming back into the contest

And it was Butler who found himself on the end of that glorious chance in the dying minutes following a lightening London counter.

However, he dragged his shot across goal as Galway held on.

Curiously, Kevin Walsh’s charges sat off London during the opening quarter.

Galway amassed behind the ball when not in possession and it wasn’t until the mid-way point of the half that the Tribesmen started to play with more fluidity.

London’s Michael Clarke puts pressure on Galway’s Michael Daly (©INPHO/Gerry McManus)

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Thomas Flynn was dominating the Ruislip skies and he and midfielder Michael Daly registered two points in as many minutes to put them 0-4 to 0-2 in front.

That kickstarted a Galway scoring burst, with Antaine O’Laoi converting a superb effort from out wide for their fifth points in 11 minutes, and suddenly a regulation win looked on the cards.

But London finished the half on fire, largely due to Butler’s brilliant strike. The corner-forward collected Fearghal McMahon’s inside pass, left his marker on the deck and buried a shot to the top corner of Ruairi Lavelle’s net.

With London captain Liam Gav- aghan to the fore, they deservedly went in level at the break – 1-6 to 0-9 – thanks to two late points from their top-scorer Conor Doran.

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