There were joyous scenes in Dr. Hyde Park as London defeated Leitrim to reach a first ever provincial decider, with a real humdinger of a finish in Roscommon.
In what has been an incredible weekend of GAA action, the underdogs lost the second half by 13 points but still hung on for a famous win by the bare minimum, eventually coming through on a scoreline of 2-11 to 1-13.
Yesterday we saw the Dublin hurlers upset Kilkenny to reach the Leinster Final while Tyrone had an emphatic 22 point win over Offaly in the qualifiers. Today Armagh recorded a 25 point victory over Wicklow and the Dublin footballers demonstrated why they are All-Ireland favourites with a 16 point win over Kildare, but London will now have another day in the sun themselves.
Paul Coggins’ side proved that they did not miss the boat the first time around to set-up a final decider with Mayo, who will be raging-hot favourites to make it three-in-a-row in Connacht.
At the interval the Exiles led by 14 points thanks in part to the assistance of a strong breeze, and were full value for their 2-10 to 0-2 lead. However a spirited fight-back from Leitrim saw a dramatic finish, including a goal from James Glancy with eight minutes to go, but it wasn’t to be for the 1994 champions and as many have been saying since the final whistle, there won’t be a cow milked in Buckingham Palace tonight.
The main question now is whether the Queen will show for the provincial decider.
