Mattie Murphy’s panel are still on track to retain their All-Ireland minor title after a 1-15 to 2-08 win over Waterford last Sunday in Croke Park.
They led by 1-09 to 0-5 at half time and looked to be cruising to an easy win, however an injury to Darragh Burke at full-back and his substitution at half time seemed to unsettle the side and Waterford stormed back into the game.
The Munster men scored 2-2 in the third quarter to make a real game of it and reduced the margin to one point, 1-11 to 2-07.
Galway are an experienced side, with a fair few players with All-Ireland medals from 2009, and the side settled to close out the game with two points from frees from Shane Moloney, and two other white flags from efforts from Padraic Brehony, and Neil Keary.
Galway will be pleased to have got their 2010 campaign off to a successful start and they now face the Leinster champions Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final in what should be a fascinating encounter.
Galway -- Shane Kelly, Cormac Diviney, Darragh Burke, Conor McDonagh, Paul Hoban, Daithí Burke (Cpt ), Mark Horan; Padraic Brehony, Conor Cooney; Albert Mullins, Jonathan Glynn, Jason Flynn; Neil Keary, Trevor Moran, Shane Moloney. Subs: Gerard O'Donoghue for Darragh Burke (ht ), Paul Concannon for McDonagh (57 ).
Galway Scorers: S Moloney 0-6(0-4f ), J Glynn 1-0, N Keary, C Cooney, A Mullins 0-2 each, P Brehony, J Flynn, T Moran 0-1 each.
