Galway 2-18 Leitrim 1-17
A late, late goal from Rory Cunningham saw a youthful Galway side edge out Leitrim in a high-scoring FBD semi-final in the University of Galway GAA Air Dome.
In a chaotic finish, Barry McNulty found the net for Leitrim deep in injury-time to dramatically level the contest at 1-17 apiece.
However, their joy didn't last long with Cunningham hitting back almost immediately to notch his second goal of the game, fellow substitute Ryan Monaghan adding another point to ensure the win for Padraic Joyce's side.
Galway, who fielded none of their 2023 championship side, led 0-10 to 0-09 after a tit-for-tat first half. Cillian Ó Curraoin, from last year's U20 side, and the experienced Antaine O'Laoi carried much of the scoring threat, the former ending up with 0-06 overall.
Shane Quinn and Darragh Rooney were to the fore in the Leitrim attack, the latter finishing as top scorer with 0-06, while Pearce Dolan and Ryan O'Rourke also chipped in with scores.
Galway opened up a six-point gap on 45 minutes when substitute Cunningham was found on the edge of the 13m line and drilled a low shot past Nevin O'Donnell.
They briefly pushed it out to seven points before a flurry of scores from Andy Moran's side. A succession of points from O'Rourke, Rooney (2), Dolan and Mark Diffley narrowed the gap to a couple of points.
With six minutes of injury-time announced, Cunningham landed a long range free to push Galway's lead back to three. Then the fun started with McNulty levelling the game 40 minutes into the second half.
Leitrim had barely stopped celebrating when Conor Flaherty's long kickout found Galway hands. A couple of fist passes later and Cunningham was side-footing the ball into the roof of the net.
They now face the winners of Roscommon-London in next Friday's final.
Meath 1-14 Longford 2-14
Longford advanced to a place in next week's Dioralyte O’Byrne Cup final after a three-point win over Meath at Ashbourne.
The defending champions finished both halves strong to come away with the victory and set up a clash with either Dublin or Wexford next Saturday in Portlaoise.
Meath manager Colm O’Rourke made 13 changes from the side that defeated Louth last time out, with only captain Michael Flood and Jack O’Connor remaining in place, and the new look side appeared keen to make a mark.
The Royals clipped over the opening score of the game through Diarmuid Moriarty after a flowing move that began with goalkeeper Harry Hogan.
At the other end, Paddy Christie’s were guilty of some poor shooting – including four wides on the spin – but the first flag they raised was green through Jayson Matthews in the 15th minute after he blasted past Hogan.
Meath regrouped and reeeld off five on the spin before the visitors dramatically swung the momentum of the encounter by notching 1-04 without reply in a dominant 10-minute period before the break, Darren Gallagher’s goal the final scoring act of the half as Longford retired to the dressing rooms with a 2-06 to 0-08 lead.
Longford midfielder Daire Duggan was blackcarded 10 minutes after the resumption and almost immediately Meath made the most of the numerical advantage when Diarmuid Moriarty took a pass from Keith Curtis to fire to the back of the net and level matters.
Coming down the stretch, Paddy Christie’s side engineered three points without reply, a gap Meath couldn’t overcome, despite Moriarty’s best efforts.
The midlanders closed out the game with the final two points to advance on a 2-14 to 1-14 scoreline.
