Galway left it too late to stop Waterford claiming the honours in the Lidl Ladies National Football League division one's opening weekend.
Waterford, in their first game back in division one, scored four goals in the opening half, and despite a dominant rally by Galway in the second half, the Déise side held out to earn a memorable 5-4 to 1-15 victory in Corofin on Sunday afternoon.
Waterford led 2-0 to 0-1 after six minutes of play - the opening goal came in the first minute as Róisín Tobin won Dearbhla Gower’s kickout, soared down to right wing, and drilled it across to Emma Murphy, who hit the net.
Galway, with a much-changed side from last year's All Ireland final, replied with a point from Fabienne Cooney, before Waterford then struck their second goal through Tobin after she received a pass from Liz Divine.
Galway rallied when Róisín Leonard drove in a ball to the near post that was met by Ailish Morrissey, who struck to make it 2-0 to 1-1 after seven minutes but there was no stopping the visitors. In the 26th minute, Aileen Wall charged down the left wing before Katie Murray palmed to the net, and three minutes later Wall again laid on a goal for Murray, which ensured Waterford went into the break with a 4-3 to 1-6 lead.
When Aoife Murray finished off a rebound from her sister Katie to put Waterford 5-3 to 1-6, all three triplets had scored a goal.
However, Tim Rabbitte’s outfit showed why they were All Ireland finalists last year. They took control with seven unanswered points in the final quarter - six through Tracey Leonard, while Olivia Divilly chipped-in with the other to close the gap, but it was not enough to halt Waterford's super start to the league.
Scorers: Waterford: K Murray 2-2, E Murray 1-0, R Tobin 1-0, A Murray 1-0, C Farrell 0-2 (1f ). Galway: T Leonard 0-9 (7f ), A Morrissey 1-0, A Trill 0-2, R Leonard 0-1 (1f ), L Hannon 0-1, F Cooney 0-1, O Divilly 0-1.
GALWAY : D Gower; S Lynch, N Connolly, S Molloy; Chloe Crowe, C Cooney, F Cooney; A Davoren, O Divilly; R Ní Fhlatharta, T Leonard, A Trill; L Hannon, R Leonard, A Morrissey. Subs: L Coen for Ní Fhlatharta (29 ), L Noone for Davoren (39 ), S Conneally for Morrissey (39 ), A Molloy for Connolly (41 ), C Miskell for Hannon (46 ), Chelsie Crowe for Chloe Crowe (54 ).
