Galway senior hurlers fell to defeat in the second round of the Allianz National League as Cork hit the goal trail to ensure their positive start under new manager Pat Ryan continues.
Galway manager Henry Shefflin made six changes to the side which had beaten Wexford a week earlier, and the signs were encouraging early on as they raced into a 1-9 to 1-4 lead with the inside duo of Kevin Cooney and Martin McManus particularly prominent as scores flew over from a variety of angles.
Gradually, though, a Cork side minus the services of Patrick Horgan and Damien Cahalane, began to get to grips with the contest. Hunting in packs has not been their forte in recent years, but they matched Galway on this occasion and were level by the break with Declan Dalton’s long-range shooting a key component.
The game changed utterly, though, on the restart, when Cork hit 2-3 without reply in a lightning spell and Oisín Salmon was somewhat unfortunate to pick up a second yellow card which hindered Galway further.
The level of highly demanding training being done by the Galway panel is unknown, but it would be something of a concern that a defensive unit only missing Daithí Burke from what could be regarded as a first choice selection, allowed five of Cork’s six forwards to make significant contributions to a final tally of 4-24.
An injury late on for Cathal Mannion on his seasonal debut was another worry, but there were positives to take in a resilient finish to the game as Galway stormed back from eleven adrift to make it a fourpoint game after McManus and Brian Concannon had both shot to the net.
Concannon then engineered a penalty chance, which could have made put Cork under further duress, but Patrick Collins guessed correctly to keep out Kevin Cooney’s strike and Cork were able to claim the win.
Limerick are next on the horizon for Galway on Sunday week and this may prove a really worthwhile assignment for the likes of McManus, Gavin Lee, Tiernan Killeen, Eoin Lawless, and Liam Collins, who will be looking to test themselves against the current standard bearers.
Galway : D Fahy; O Salmon, G McInerney; J Grealish; P Mannion, J Cooney, D Morrissey; G Lee, S Linnane; T Monaghan, C Whelan, J Flynn; E Niland (0-11, 8fs ), K Cooney (1-1 ), M McManus (1-3 ). Subs: C Fahy (0-1 ) for Monaghan (35 ), C Mannion (0-1 ) for Lee (42 ), R Murphy for Morrissey (53 ), B Concannon (1-0 ) for Flynn (58 ), L Collins (0-1f ) for Niland (66 ).
Cork: P Collins; C O’Callaghan, E Downey, E Roche; C O’Brien, C Joyce, S Quirke; B Roche, T O’Connell (0-1 ); D Dalton (0-8, 2fs ), C Lehane (2-3 ), S Twomey (2-0 ); C Beausang, S Barrett (0-4 ), S Kingston (0-6, 4fs ). Subs: L Meade for Quirke (39 ), B Hayes (0-1 ) for Beausang (47 ), C Cahalane (0-1 ) for Barrett (55 ).
