Based on their lethargic performance on Saturday night, the Galway hurlers will need to improve their general standard of play and overall intensity of effort if they are to reach this season’s Leinster final.
They now face the 2011 league champions Dublin on June 18 in O’Connor Park, Tullamore at 7pm. Dublin and Galway now have nine days to get things right.
Having struggling against a Westmeath side that scarcely resembled a team which had lost all division two league games, Galway will know an enormous improvement is necessary to advance to a second consecutive Leinster decider.
Manager John McIntrye did not mince his words this week, saying the display would not be nearly good enough to compete with Dublin.
“We were all disappointed with our overall performance last Saturday evening and we know it would not be anywhere near good enough to beat Dublin. But our basic objective was to go up there, play the game, get the result and move on. That mission was accomplished. We are lacking a bit of fluency at the moment, but the players’ hearts are in the right place and I think you’ll see a different Galway against Dublin.”
Going into the final quarter last weekend the Galway management team decided to draft in Shane Kavanagh, Tony Óg Regan and Joe Canning to make sure there was going to be no chance of a colossal shock in Cusack Park, and it was good to get those players back onto a championship field before Tullamore on Saturday week.
Canning tacked on three late frees on his introduction, however, in fairness, Galway had responded well before that and had hit six points without reply to kill off the spirited challenge of Westmeath who shot 15 wides over the 70 minutes.
John McIntyre’s men outscored the home side by 1-8 to 0-2 in the closing quarter, but they needed that powerful finish having lost a six-point lead to leave the score-line at 3-9 to 2-12 at the three-quarters mark.
Many of Galway's problems on Saturday night again stemmed from a lack of aerial prowess and an inability to win puckouts from either side continues to be a major worry. The half-back line and half-forwards need to improve quickly in that department if any championship silverware is to be collected this season.
Westmeath exploited this failing, not least wing-back Eoin Price, who won several efforts from James Skehill, and wing-forward Brendan Murtagh, who also won lots of primary possession for Brian Hanley’s charges.
Thankfully from a Galway perspective Cyril Donnellan was on form and the Padraig Pearse’s player showed good leadership to lead the way for Galway with an impressive hat-trick. However he was one of only a few Tribesmen to emerge from the tie with his reputation enhanced. Others who were solid over the hour were Damien Hayes who notched four points from play, while the full-back line of Joyce, Collins and Moore defended stoutly at times and David Burke worked hard at midfield.
Galway: J Skehill; D Joyce, D Collins, F Moore; J Coen, J Lee, A Cullinane; D Burke 0-3 (2fs ), K Hynes; B Daly 0-1, C Donnellan 3-1, A Smith 0-1; D Hayes 0-4, J Gantley 0-2, A Callanan 1-1 (1f ),. Subs: E Ryan 0-1 for Smith (46 ); S Kavanagh for Cullinane (52 ); T Og Regan for Lee (54 ); J Canning (3f ); for Callanan (57 ).
