NHL Division 1A: Galway 2-21 Clare 0-20
The task of rebuilding Galway into a force which Micheál Donoghue accepted when he decided to return to the helm for a second term in charge of the Tribesmen will move up a notch this weekend when the extended squad of 53 he has been working with for the past couple of months gets trimmed to a more manageable figure.
When Athenry’s Eoin Lawless came on for debutant Cillian Trayers with five minutes remaining against Clare at Pearse Stadium on Saturday night he became the 35th player from 19 different clubs to feature in Galway’s three league games so far this season.
And with stalwarts such as David Burke and Cathal Mannion yet to feature this season, that represents some spread of players as Donoghue and his management team build for the future in the hope of repeating their 2017 All-Ireland success.
The experimentation resulted in a heavy opening defeat at home to Tipperary but now Kilkenny and Clare, also both experimenting heavily, have been dispatched. And with three weeks to go before their next game against Wexford, this is an opportune time for Donoghue and his management team to reorganise the squad.
“As we said at the start of the year, we’ve spread the net as much as we could in excess of 50 players,” said Donoghue after Saturday night’s seven-point victory. “Our objective was to look at a lot of players, I won’t say as many as we could, but to make sure that when we were making the changes that the quality and standard didn’t drop, particularly in the way we wanted to play. So it’s been encouraging, but three tough ones to come again.”
Those who don’t make the cut this week will continue to work with Galway’s strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionist and other personnel so that they continue on the pathway.
Galway’s remaining three league games are away, first to Wexford, then Limerick and finishing with Cork. Having four points in the bag at this stage is a help, although the loss of former All Star full back Daithí Burke with a hamstring injury after just 12 minutes in his first start is a concern.
“We were disappointed with the Tipperary performance, but more so in that we didn’t transfer what we were doing from the training ground to the pitch,” added Donoghue. “We did that a lot better last weekend [against Kilkenny] and for the first 35 minutes today again. It’s been encouraging for us.”
It was a poignant evening in Salthill as Galway paid tribute to 1988 All-Ireland winner Michael Coleman who died in an accident at his home the previous evening. Donoghue and coach Francis Forde played on the Galway team which Coleman captained to the 1996 league title. A minute’s silence was observed before the game, Galway players wore black armbands and captain Conor Whelan laid a Galway No 8 jersey on the ground before the match.
“We said beforehand if we could take an ounce of the attitude he displayed in the Galway jersey over the years, we probably wouldn’t be in a bad place,” said Donoghue.
“Every day he went out and wore the jersey with distinction and we had to make sure that went out and matched that for him and his family.”
Galway laid the foundation for victory in the opening half when they built up a 2-15 to 0-11 interval lead on a benign night where both teams struggled on the poor surface.
Anthony Burns was the standout performer in his first start, taking his superb form in Loughrea’s march to the county title on to a higher level as he shot 2-3 from play, all but a point of it coming in the opening 26 minutes. Six days earlier another corner forward, Declan McLoughlin from Portumna, shot 2-2 against Kilkenny, raising the hope that Conor Whelan will be supported as a goal threat this year.
Clare, starting with just four of the side which began the All-Ireland final last July, got caught in a wave of Galway scores in the second quarter, when they went from 0-7 to 0-9 behind to 2-15 to 0-11 in 15 minutes.
Clare manager Brian Lohan, who drafted in Hurler of the Year Tony Kelly for his first action in the final quarter, won’t be too displeased with a second loss in the league, having gone down at home to Kilkenny in their opening game.
Aidan McCarthy, one of the four from the All-Ireland final, was their main scoring threat, while Patrick Crotty, Ryan Taylor and David Reidy also picked off some fine scores. Goalkeeper Éamonn Foudy produced a couple of good saves to deny Whelan.
Lohan will take solace from the fact that they outscored a wasteful Galway side by 0-9 to 0-6 in the second half without ever seriously mounting a comeback threat and they will now hope to secure their first points when they host Wexford in a couple of weeks.
GALWAY: D Fahy; D Loftus (0-1), D Burke, D Morrissey (0-1); P Mannion (0-1), G Lee, C Trayers; C Fahy, T Monaghan (0-2); J Fleming, T Killeen, B Concannon; E Niland (0-9; 7f, 1 65), C Whelan (0-2), A Burns (2-3).
Subs: F Burke for Daithi Burke (12 mins); J Flynn (0-1f) for Niland, K Cooney for Concannon (both 46); S Linnane (0-1) for Fleming (53); E Lawless for Trayers (65).
CLARE: E Foudy; I McNamara, J O’Neill (0-1), A Hogan; D Lohan, R Hayes, C Galvin (0-1); R Taylor (0-2), P Donnellan; P Crotty (0-2), C Malone, S Rynne; K Smyth, D Reidy (0-2), A McCarthy (0-11; 8f).
Subs: R Hayes for Lohan (35 mins); A Shanagher for Smyth (49); C O’Meara for Rynne (53); T Kelly (0-1) for Donnellan (55); D Conroy for Malone (60).
Referee: M Kennedy (Tipperary).
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