Padraic Joyce’s Galway enjoyed a flying start to their Allianz Football League division two campaign in Pearse Stadium on Sunday with a convincing 1-14 to 0-06 victory over Andy McEntee’s Meath.
The game was played in appalling conditions, and this had a massive bearing on the quality of the game. With possession of the ball crucial, it resulted in a slightly more conservative attacking approach by Galway. However the game plan worked and Joyce will be delighted to continue their winning start to the season off the back of a successful FBD campaign.
Meath failed to score in the first half as the Tribesmen totally dominated affairs all over the park. Much of this was down to the elements being in Galway’s favour. However Meath looked like a team that was playing together for the first time. The Royal County could not get out past the half way line for the majority of the opening half which will be a major worry for Andy McEntee.
The removal of the water break for the league fixtures after the Government’s removal of restrictions meant Galway’s flow was not broken for the full 35 minutes. Shane Walsh was Meath’s tormentor-in-chief in the opening period as his radar was on from the minute he nailed his first placed ball.
The score of the day unsurprisingly came from Walsh when he picked the ball up just outside the Meath ’45 on the left wing. The Kilkerrin-Clonberne man ran at his opposing defender Eoin Harkin, turned on the brakes on two occasions before curling a wonder score off his right foot to put Galway 0-02 to 0-00 ahead.
Soon after Galway started to click as a unit, the first sign of this was when Cillian McDaid began and finished an electric counter attack to put further distance between the sides.
Galway could have raised a green flag when Robert Finnerty was presented with a gilt-edged goal chance, but it was stopped on the line by Meath’s Shane McEntee. Although it could have crossed the line, the umpires did not see it that way.
The chance was set up by Galway’s marauding full-back and captain Seán Kelly who punched holes in the Meath defence at every opportunity. Two more Walsh frees pushed the Tribesmen five to the good with Meath progressively getting worse in possession and their confidence seeming to plummet.
A Walsh attempt from a sideline ball dropped short and was palmed to the net by debutant Tomo Culhane to take the game away from Meath just after half an hour.
Galway really put Meath to the sword in the remaining minutes of the first half with Walsh twice scoring from placed balls, while Owen Gallagher, on his league debut, and Finnerty could have scored another goal for Galway.
However, with a 1-09 to 0-00 half-time lead, the game was still well beyond Meath despite the wind in their favour for the second half.
The Tribesmen also grabbed the first two scores of the second half to suck out any life left in Meath - the first of these points was converted by Shane Walsh after possession had been maintained by Galway for almost three minutes from the hop ball.
It was an impressive display given the worsening the conditions, and Galway coasted to the finish line.
Next up for Galway is Down in Newry on Saturday at 5pm. Down suffered defeat to Derry in their opening fixture last Saturday evening, so they will be desperate to get points on the board especially in a home fixture.
