Galway came with a storming late run at Tuam Stadium yesterday to snatch an unlikely draw from the jaws of seemingly certain defeat by Donegal.

Three times the visitors led by three points in the first half and they were two up entering injury time. But in the three minutes added on by the referee for stoppages Galway had points from captain Padraig Joyce and promising newcomer Kenneth Naughton to earn a draw.

The equaliser was a spectacular effort by Naughton, a 21-year-old from Ballinasloe who had shown up well in Galway's first league outing against Roscommon a fortnight ago. As in that match, Galway were again understrength, fielding only seven of their All-Ireland final team.

Donegal undoubtedly played the better football for most of this game but ultimately they paid the penalty for not helping themselves to the cushion of a four-point lead in the last quarter when their forwards really excelled, especially the exciting John McCafferty at top of the left. Indeed, the Donegal full forward line accounted for nine of their team's 12 points between them.

However, while their full-back line struggled, Galway did much better in the outside line of their defence - particularly Sean de Paor and Tommy Joyce, two of the best players on the field. Joe Bergin also played well for the home side at midfield in the first half, but for almost all the second period Donegal were fresher and sharper .

Coming up to the end of the first quarter, Galway created two clearcut goal chances but De Paor and Derek Savage were denied by the alert Donegal defender Noel McGinley, whose covering was outstanding. McGinley's interventions inspired his team to forge into an interval lead of 0-5 to 0-4 by scoring the last three points of the first half, from Adrian Sweeney (two) and Michael Hegarty.

Lorcan O Collerain shot a levelling point for Galway on the change of ends, but Donegal were not headed from there to the end and it was a sign of their dominance and excellent combination football that over the hour their entire tally came from play.

Galway, on the other hand, depended on the free-taking of Padraig Joyce and John Donnellan to keep them in the hunt.

GALWAY: P Lally; T Meehan, R Fahey, K Collins; S de Paor (0-1), T Joyce, M O Collerain; J Bergin, F Gavin; K Naughton (0-1), L O Colleran (0-1), N Meehan; D Savage, P Joyce (0-4, three frees), J Donnellan (0-5, three frees). Subs: D O'Brien for N Meehan, T Carton for Gavin.

DONEGAL: T Blake; E Doherty, M Crossan, N McGinley; N Hegarty, R Sweeney, J Scanlon; J Gildea, B Monaghan (0-1); J Gallagher (0-1), M Hegarty (0-1), M Doherty; A Gallagher (0-2), A Sweeney (0-3), J McCafferty (0-4). Sub: B Roper for Doherty.

Referee: P Reilly (Longford).