Allianz Hurling League Division 1A, round three
Galway 2-21 Clare 0-20
THE last time Galway hurled in Pearse Stadium, their supporters walked out with a deep sense of concern at the rebuilding job that lie in wait, such was the demolition that the Tribesmen experienced at the hands of Tipperary in that game.
Fast forward two weeks and Micheál Donoghue will feel content that his side is ready for a run of three consecutive road trips in the league, followed by two away games in April in the Leinster championship.
“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” he said after this win.
“So it’s been encouraging, but three tough ones to come again”.
Analysts might look at the game and say that in the 15 minutes before half-time, Galway outscored Clare by 2-7 to 0-2, with Anthony Burns putting his name on two goals – the first a wonderful piece of individual skill, the second a close range finish after Conor Whelan made the hard yards.
Outside of that spell, a Clare team with just four starters from the team that started last year’s All-Ireland final won the game. Factually accurate, but still misleading.
Patrick Crotty and Ryan Taylor were impressive at centre forward and midfield respectively as Clare rallied into an early 0-5 to 0-2 lead, but from then on, Galway looked much sharper. Darren Morrissey and Dan Loftus looked promising in the corner back berths, Tom Monaghan continues to hold down a midfield spot with aplomb, and up front Conor Whelan was the architect while Burns laid down the building blocks.
“We pulled ourselves back into it and then maybe we did more of what we wanted, opening it up up top and good quality ball and the lads did that and we got the rewards for it” said Donoghue.
“But the first half was certainly better than the second half. The second half wasn’t to the standard we expected”.
It wasn’t that Clare took over though. Instead it was that Galway continued to have more of the possession, but ten wides in that period meant that they didn’t pull ahead as they might have.
Against different opposition that might have been a problem, but here, Clare simply didn’t have the wherewithal to eat into the lead in any meaningful way. The introduction of Aron Shanagher added some heft while Tony Kelly also got minutes, chipping in with a late point. It was never going to make any difference here, but with what is now a crucial relegation showdown against Wexford next on the agenda, Brian Lohan will no doubt be relieved to have that comfort, while knowing that the time for such rampant experimentation might be coming to an end.
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, E Niland (0-9, 0-7f, 0-1 65), T Killeen; B Concannon, C Whelan (0-2), A Burns (2-3).
Subs F Burke for D Burke (13), K Cooney for Concannon (46), J Flynn (0-1f) for Niland (46), S Linnane (0-1) for Fleming (53), E Lawless for Trayers (66)
Wides 12
Yellow cards Niland (37)
Clare E Foudy; I McNamara, D Lohan, A Hogan; C Galvin (0-1), Ross Hayes, J O’Neill (0-1); P Donnellan, R Taylor (0-2); C Malone, P Crotty (0-2), S Rynne; A McCarthy (0-11, 0-8f), D Reidy (0-2), K Smyth
Subs Rory Hayes for Lohan (35+2), A Shanagher for Smyth (48), C O’Meara for Rynne (53), T Kelly (0-1) for Donnellan (55), D Conroy for Malone (61)
Wides 5
Yellow cards Taylor (44), Shanagher (68)
Referee Michael Kennedy (Tipperary)
