The Galway hurlers will not have it as easy this Sunday at Pearse Stadium (2pm ) when they face a reinvigorated Wexford.
Galway enjoyed a facile 6-23 to 1-12 win over a disappointing Offaly outfit in Tullamore last weekend, but Wexford arrive after a morale boosting 1-14 to 0-14 victory over Limerick.
There is a genuine buzz in the Leinster county and the players are responding with enhanced performances and a seriously high work-rate. The county, which has been dormant for many years, appears to be about to shake itself from its slumber.
The players are starting to believe in themselves by their success on Sunday. The 1996 All-Ireland champions trailed Limerick by six points at the interval having played into the elements. However a Conor McDonald 61st-minute goal turned the game and they went on to secure a valuable two league points.
Looking to build momentum, they now face Micheál Donoghue’s Galway, who were boosted by the return of the St Thomas players.
Once impressive full-forward Jason Flynn hit 1-2 in the first five minutes, it was always going to be one way traffic, and Flynn ended up with 2-10 (8fs ) at the end of the totally lop-sided tie.
St Thomas' Conor Cooney and David Burke were on the score-sheet, Cooney scoring 0-5 in the second-half, four of them from play, while All-Star midfielder David Burke also notched 1-1.
No doubt the Galway team management will be pleased to have such quality fire-power available to them for the coming weeks, and Turloughmore’s Daithí Burke and two-times All-Star defender will also be available soon after Corofin’s defeat last weekend in Limerick.
While it is impossible to read too much into the Offaly game, it was good to see nine different Galway players raising flags and a good positive attitude all over the field.
This is a new-look Galway team and with the definite priority of getting out of division 1B, this Sunday's clash will tell us a lot about the probability of that happening.
Galway v Offaly: C Callanan, M Donohoe, J Hanbury, P Killeen, A Harte, A Tuohy, G McInerney, J Coen, D Burke, D Glennon, J Cooney, P Flaherty, C Whelan, J Flynn, C Cooney.Subs: B Molloy for Flaherty (29 ), S Maloney for Whelan (52 ), M Conneely for Harte (52 ), N Burke for Glennon (52 ), T Monaghan for Flynn (60 ).
