Galway 4-25 Clare 0-20:GALWAY HURLERS got their championship ambitions back on track with a facile win at Pearse Stadium on Saturday but their supporters might feel that notions of All-Ireland glory could be premature. Clare were very poor defensively and were prised open easily by a fired-up Galway side that won the toss and took advantage of the strong wind.
“The game would have been different had we won the toss – we were hoping to win it but even that didn’t go our way,” lamented Clare boss Ger O’Loughlin afterwards.
Galway blitzed the suspect Clare defence and if the game was not entirely over as a contest when they led by 3-13 to 0-12 at the interval, then it certainly lost its competitive edge when Clare’s James McInerney was red-carded for a lunge at Joe Canning after 40 minutes.
That ensured a fairly leisurely stroll for Galway thereafter, with nine players finding the target, and their supporters in the crowd of 13,011. Galway boss John McIntyre admitted he was surprised by the big home following.
Ger Farragher was more direct. “We thought there wouldn’t be half as much Galway people here and you wouldn’t blame that after the last day when we let the whole county down,” he said.
McIntyre said they devoted their recent training sessions to the skills of the game.
“We went back to basics on the training ground over the last two weeks, there was less cones and less discs on the training field and there was more hurling. Every session we have had since the Dublin game has been hurling matches.
“We were all extremely disappointed with the performance against Dublin and I knew we would have a much sharper Galway hurling team tonight. I didn’t know if it would get us over the line but the reputations of the management and in particular the players were on the line and I’m really proud of the players,” he said.
“My overriding emotion is just sheer delight for the players, they have really retrieved their reputations. But it’s only one match. I will be challenging the squad and asking how did this display come and say to them ‘if we can do it one night, we can do it another night’.”
But if this was about Galway’s redemption, then the agony goes on for Clare. Aside from a relegation win over Wexford two years ago, they have not won a championship match since defeating Limerick in the 2008 Munster semi-final. O’Loughlin said that the concession of goals was undermining them.
“We were at sixes and sevens for the first 20 minutes, playing into a strong breeze. We were again very naïve in that a lot of goals were conceded; all we can do now is go back and pick up the pieces, try and learn from it,” said O’Loughlin.
“The bottom line is that we’re actually scoring 20 and 21 points in most games but we’re conceding three and four goals in every match. That’s what we have to try and remedy. It’s not easy, we’re playing the best players that are available to us. We just need to get a bit more savvy about what we’re doing at the back, conceding goal after goal in every game and it’s costing us.”
Damien Hayes tormented the Clare defence from the outset, blasting to the net after seven minutes and then setting up Canning, whose effort came back off the butt of the post, Farragher pouncing to score.
Two more quick points from Canning saw Galway lead by 2-4 to 0-1 after 14 minutes and Canning piled on the agony when he bulldozed and jinked his way through for a third goal after 28 minutes.
Conor McGrath and Nicky O’Connell tried to keep Clare in the hunt with a string of points but the Galway defence was solid with Shane Kavanagh and Tony Óg Regan impressive.
McInerney’s dismissal ended the game as a contest and Galway used David Collins as a sweeper, and up front they exploited the extra space, with Farragher setting up Alan Kerins for their fourth goal after 54 minutes.
GALWAY: J Skehill; F Moore, S Kavanagh, D Collins; D Barry, T Óg Regan, A Cullinane; A Smith (0-1), D Burke (0-1); J Gantley (0-2), G Farragher (1-4), J Canning (1-9, 0-3 frees, 0-1 sideline, 0-1 65); D Hayes (1-3), I Tannian (0-2), A Kerins (1-2). Subs: C Donnellan for Tannian (57 mins), D Joyce for Barry (blood, 62 mins), B Daly for Burke (65 mins), J Regan (0-1) for Gantley (65 mins), A Harte for Farragher (66 mins), K Hynes for Cullinane (70 mins). Yellow cards: Cullinane (43 mins).
CLARE: P Brennan; P Vaughan, C Dillon, C Cooney; P O’Connor, P Donnellan, J McInerney; N O’Connell (0-6, 0-5 frees, 0-1 65), J Clancy (0-1); J Conlon (0-2), F Lynch (0-1), D McMahon; C McInerney (0-1), C Morey (0-3), C McGrath (0-5, 0-3 frees). Subs: B Bugler for Vaughan (35 mins), L Markham (0-1) for Clancy (43 mins),S Collins for Lynch (48 mins), C O’Donovan for McMahon (57 mins), G Quinn for Donnellan (63 mins). Yellow cards: Cooney (7 mins), Dillon (48 mins). Red card: J McInerney (40 mins).
Referee: D Kirwan (Cork).
