Eircom U21 league - Galway United 5 Finn Harps 2

For the second week running, Galway United's U21 side staged a remarkable fightback coming from two goals down to stun Finn Harps with a five-star blast.

United only needed a point from the game to secure a home draw in the last 16 of the knock-out stages of the Dr. Tony O'Neill eircom U21 League and they achieved their aim in some style.

Finn Harps were their nearest rivals to second place in the table and things were not looking good for United when they were two goals down after only 24 minutes.

But Billy Clery's side tend not to panic in these situations and once again their attacking flair produced another stunning comeback.

Last week Salthill Devon were cruising with a two goal lead before United fired in three goals and this week United scored four second half goals to run out 5-2 winners with Cathal Fahy grabbing a well deserved hat-trick.

Harps took the lead after 20 minutes when Barry Tourish latched onto a long clearance and sent a deft lob over John Egan.

Harps were two up four minutes later when United failed to pick up Patrick Bonner on the edge of the box. Tourish rolled a pass across the box for Bonner to send a low, crisp drive past Egan.

United were back in the contest on 28 minutes. Jason Molloy fed Fahy with a beautiful weighted pass and the United hitman rounded Liam Mailey before finishing from a tight angle. The United striker came close seconds later when he glanced a Ronan O'Boyle cross inches wide.

The second half was only three minutes old when United drew level. Substitute Eoin McCormack sent O'Boyle through and he finished superbly past Mailey.

On 54 minutes the United comeback was complete. Willie McDonagh sent a long pass forward to Fahy who wriggled between goalkeeper and centre back before sending an audacious lob over Mailey.

United were rampant at this stage and put Harps under severe pressure. On 70 minutes Molloy crossed from the right but O'Boyle failed to convert in front of goal.

On 80 minutes Fahy nearly completed his hat-trick when he collected a neat pass from O'Boyle, but his lob just fell over the crossbar.

In the final minute Harps came close to grabbing an undeserved equalizer when Colm McGonigle failed to connect properly with a free-kick and goalkeeper Egan collected comfortably.

United finished off the game in some style with two quickfire goals. McCormack broke through a static Finn Harps rearguard and coolly finished before Fahy completed his hat-trick with an unstoppable shot to cap a mazy run.

Galway United: Egan; Dowling, Sinnott, Walsh, Cunningham (McDonagh, 27); McBrien (Neto, 75), Keane (McCormack h/t), Conneely, Molloy; Fahy, O'Boyle.

Finn Harps: Mailey; McGowan, Lafferty, C.Gallagher, Keohane (McMenamin, 67); McGonigle, Bonner, Gethins (O'Connor, 85), McGavigan; J.Gallagher, Tourish.

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