Allianz Football League Division One round three
Galway 0-16 Tyrone 0-13
IT was a weekend when home advantage was made to count in Allianz Football League Division One and Galway’s greater second-half efficiency proved the main point of difference in a pillar-to-post victory over Tyrone.
February is never a time to press the panic button but the Tribesmen felt more than a little pressure after collecting just one point from a possible four and conceding last-gasp scores in their away draw with Mayo and subsequent home defeat to Roscommon.
Where would the necessary scores come from in the absence of Allstar forwards Damien Comer and Shane Walsh?
That was the chief question from a Galway perspective and answers duly arrived in the shape of Matthew Tierney chipping in with half-a-dozen points and three apiece from Paul Conroy and a more unlikely source in sub Cathal Sweeney.
The winners never trailed at any stage. Tyrone elected to play into the wind and Galway’s 0-7 to 0-3 lead looked about par at the end of a cagey opening half.
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Fast forward ten minutes and if any team was in the box seat it was surely the visitors. Cathal McShane and Darren McCurry were finding space easier to come by and both began to exert an influence on the scoreboard.
Three times Tyrone closed to within a solitary point but crucially were never able to get on terms and ask even more searching questions. 0-9 to 0-8 was how it stood on 51 minutes but whereas the visitors’ accuracy betrayed them too often, Galway made their move with six points on the spin over the next 10 minutes.
Ian Burke and Sweeney scores book-ended that spell and both Jack Glynn and Dylan McHugh made forays from deep that led to converted frees from Tierney. The Galway vice-captain also sent over a skyscraper from play and Seán Kelly, so dynamic in open country, also pierced the defensive cover to find the target.
There was little left behind by Galway in that second half, save for Conroy’s attempt to lob a retreating Niall Morgan that veered wide of an empty net.
Tyrone’s barren spell lasted more than 15 minutes and left too much ground to make up, even if they tested Galway’s mettle with late points from Richie Donnelly, McCurry, Peter Harte and Padraig Hampsey.
“The second half, bar the first five or six minutes, we were very pleased with the rest of it,” Galway manager Padraic Joyce’s said afterwards.
“The way Tyrone came back at us, it looked like they were going to draw the game level or maybe go ahead with a goal chance. But our lads pushed on and got six scores in-a-row.
“We all know Tyrone love turnovers and live off that. They had three in the first five minutes of the second half, but I don’t think we gave them any for the rest of the game.”
That’s three wins on the bounce now for Galway over Tyrone in Tuam and enough to move them up to third in the standings. They’ll travel to Donegal next weekend feeling much better about themselves.
Tyrone, in contrast, must regroup ahead of yet another trip to Connacht and a meeting with in-form Mayo.
Joint-manager Brian Dooher believed his side were in “a reasonable place” at the break but were left to rue their finishing thereafter.
“Disappointed with the second half. We worked hard to get back into it. We had opportunities but we just didn’t push on and paid the price for that.”
Galway: C Gleeson; J Glynn (0-1), E Kelly, S Kelly (0-1); D McHugh, J Daly, D O’Flaherty; P Conroy (0-3, 0-2 frees), C McDaid; P Cooke (0-1), M Tierney (0-6, 0-3 frees), J Heaney; P Kelly, E Finnerty, I Burke (0-1). Substitutes: J McGrath for O’Flaherty (h-t); C Sweeney (0-3) for E Finnerty (h-t); J Maher for P Kelly (69); R Finnerty for McDaid (70).
Tyrone: N Morgan; C Munroe (0-1), M McKernan, P Hampsey (0-1); C Quinn (0-1), P Harte (0-1), N Devlin; B Kennedy, F Burns; C Meyler, C Kilpatrick, N Sludden; D McCurry (0-4, 0-2 frees), C McShane (0-2, 0-1 mark), D Canavan (0-2, 0-2 frees). Substitutes: J Oguz for Devlin (50); R Canavan for Sludden (56); R Donnelly (0-1) for Quinn (58); M Donnelly for Burns (64).
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).
