Galway hurlers will be favourites to follow up last weekend’s victory over Cork with a home win over Waterford in Pearse Stadium on Sunday (2.30pm ).
With a win over Dublin, a strong performance against Tipperary, and now a win over Cork, Galway are 2/9 with the bookies to add another win to their league tally, whileWaterford are 7/2 to win. Few could quibble with those odds based on the form Galway have produced thus far in the league.
The Deisé have no points from their three games to date and they were the victims of a heavy defeat to Tipperary last weekend. However, on the plus side, they have both John Mullane and Eoin Kelly back at training this week and they will be coming to Salthill looking to get something from their journey.
The Waterford panel and management had a two-hour meeting on Monday evening in a bid to refocus for the next two league games. They will not want to have four defeats on the spin and Galway can expect some backlash from their visitors who have received heavy criticism during the week.
However Galway will hope to maintain the form and work rate that saw them 2-17 to 2-13 winners over Cork down south last Sunday. A draw looked the likely result in the closing moments of that game as the score stood at 2-13 to 1-16.
However some scoring magic from Niall Burke, who ended with 1-10, saw Galway move up a gear to take the points.
What was very pleasing was that it was a good team move that led to the decisive goal.
David Burke and Joseph Cooney were involved before releasing Burke in the 69th minute, and as the ball hopped before the Oranmore man, he connected to whip a magnificent strike to the roof of the Cork net.
Anthony Cunningham, who had an exceptionally busy weekend of sport, was delighted with Burke’s expertly taken three-pointer.
"It was a great finish. Just clipping it first time - probably reminiscent of Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s goals in former times.”
Galway were slow out of the blocks and Cork stormed 1-7 to 0-2 clear. However Galway knuckled down and brought in a few subs who helped turn the game around.
It was an noteworthy fight back and there were genuine signs the new management team of Cunningham, Tom Helebert and Mattie Kenny have imbued some honest and real resilience in their panel.
Many youngsters seem to be finding their feet on the senior stage and the work rate and application from all the Galway players has been mpressive. Everyone is working very hard for the team and it is always a major positive when the subs who are brought on make a big contribution.
That happened last Sunday and both Davy Glennon and Cyril Donnellan did well when called in and they helped turn the tide Galway’s way.
Cunningham, who saw his Garrycastle team draw with Crossmaglen on Saturday in Croke Park, thought he was going to end the weekend with another draw on Sunday too.
“We were lucky in the finish. I thought a draw would probably have been a fair result, but we’ll take the win. We’ve a young team. We need to be patient with them, and it’ll take time. But they’re working hard and we’re happy with them and the progress they are making."
