Antrim give champions a scare Galway….4-7 Antrim…1-14 Galway's goal-scoring ability proved crucial as they withstood a second half onslaught from Antrim to keep alive their dreams of a third All-Ireland minor hurling title in-a-row. This All-Ireland quarter-final at Mullingar served up some great hurling, and the reigning champions had to pull out all the stops to fend off Antrim's brave challenge. After an evenly contested opening quarter, Aidan Harte and Sean Coen both found the net to ease the Tribesmen into a 2-6 to 0-2 lead after 26 minutes. But Antrim replied with three points before the break and they reeled off five more after the restart to get themselves back into contention. Half backs Barry McFall and Neil McManus hit two marvellous points, while sub Ciaran McGourty slotted over five frees. However, Antrim's scoring sequence was broken when Kevin Keehan scored a third Galway goal in the 41st minute. With six minutes remaining, the unusually quiet Joe Canning added a fourth and the champions looked home and hosed. But 'Sambo' McNaughton's side fought to the death with points from Eddie McCloskey (two) and Peter Dallat being followed by an Anton McClafferty goal. And they could have snatched a remarkable victory had Cormac Donnelly's intended pass to McClafferty in the dying moments not been intercepted. GALWAY - J Skehill; J Ryan, M McMahon, L Tully 0-1; M Corcoran, K Keane, A Moylan; G Lally, C Forde; A Harte 1-2, N Lynch, E Forde; S Coen 1-1, K Keehan 1-0, J Canning 1-2. Subs: G Kelly for Lynch 31 mins, D Burke for Corcoran 38 mins, G Hennelly 0-1 for Coen 43, G Burke for Forde 46. ANTRIM - C O'Connell; A Graffin, C Donnelly, M McFadden; B McFall 0-1, N McManus 0-2, K McKeague; S Burke, R Donnelly 0-1; A McCaffrey 1-0, P Dallat 0-1, P Shields 0-2; D Hamill, E McCloskey 0-2, L McKillop. Subs: C McGourty 0-2 for R Donnelly 23, M Dallat for McKeague 27. REF - J McGrath (Westmeath) Tweet

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