Galway are through to this year’s All-Ireland JFC final after coming out on top in a titanic semi-final tussle against Meath at Dr Hyde Park today.

The Tribesmen booked their final ticket courtesy of a dramatic 7-17 to 5-22 extra-time victory over the Royals.

The Connacht champions rode their luck in normal time and needed Enda Tierney to come to their rescue with a stoppage time goal to force extra-time but they made the most of their reprieve when shading the extra-time exchanges by 1-6 to 1-5.

First half goals from Jason Scully, Sean Reilly and Kevin Ross plus a four point return from Stephen Coogan saw Davy Nelson’s Meath take a 3-9 to 2-5 lead into the break.

Colm Brennan and Padraic O’Donnell found the back of the Meath net in the opening 30 minutes and the second-half was only two minutes old when Gary Kelly raised a third green flag for the Connacht representatives.

That was, however, cancelled out almost immediately at the opposite end of the field when Ross bagged his second three pointer of the contest.

The team in maroon and white refused to throw in the towel, however, and their industry was rewarded with a fifth goal in the 48th minute courtesy of full-forward Brennan.

That left them trailing by 5-8 to 4-14 and Tierney’s last gasp effort saw them catch their opponents on the line as the regulation 60 minutes finished with the scoreboard reading: Galway 6-11, Meath 4-17.

The first period of extra-time followed a similar pattern with Meath captain Michael Flood and Brennan trading goals but points in the second period from Jonathan Ryan, Conor Brady and Kelly swung the high scoring fixture in the winners’ favour.

Galway - C Haslam; E O'Sullivan, D O Ruairc, T Rabbitte; P O'Donnell (1-0), A Ward, S O Curraoin; A Molloy, C Brady (0-1); T Gleeson (0-1), M Day (0-1), S Denvir (0-1); G Kelly (2-7, 0-4f), C Brennan (3-0), P E O Curraoin. Subs: E Tierney (1-1) for C Brady, M Geraghty for A Ward, J Ryan (0-5) for P E O Curraoin, C Costello for S O Curraoin, E Concannon for T Rabbitte (BC), L Molloy for S Denvir, S Denvir for P O'Donnell, C Brady for A Molloy, A O Hiarnain for T Gleeson.

Meath - A McDermott; C McConnell, M Flood (1-0), G Duane; K Slavin (0-1), M Callaghan (0-1), J Cassidy; R Clarke, D Quinn (0-3); R Farrelly, J Scully (1-1), S Reilly (1-2); O Meehan (0-1), K Ross (2-6, 0-3f), S Coogan (0-6, 3f, 1'45). Subs: J Lynch for A McDermott, S Claire for R Farrelly, D Gibney for G Duane, T O'Reilly for D Quinn, B O'Connell (0-1) for S Coogan, D Quinn for T O'Reilly, K McKeon for M Callaghan, D Finney for D Gibney, D Rowe for O Meehan.

Referee - S Laverty.

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