The Galway senior footballers will have their second competitive game of the season this Sunday when they face Sligo IT in round two of the FBD league in Tuam Stadium (2pm ).
Alan Mulholland will expect his charges to continue from the solid start they had last Sunday in Tuam when they defeated NUIG easily on a scoreline of 0-16 to 0-6.
The team that lined out last weekend was a combination of some of the older brigade and a few fresh faces at senior level like Conor Costello, John O' Brien, Seán Denvir and Kilkerrin/Clonberne youngster Shane Walsh who came on as a substitute.
The Galway management team of Mulholland, Donal O' Flatharta and Alan Flynn also gave starts to Cortoon Shamrocks players Donal O' Neill and David Finnegan in the full-back line, alongside the returned Colin Forde. It was also good to see Eoin Concannon back in the maroon colours too after a torrid time last year with injury.
While it was a win for the Galway lads, NUIG looked average enough and, with such horrid conditions on the day, it was difficult to read too much into the result.
Nevertheless it was good to see Galway hitting a good tally - 16 points will win most games - and it was a real positive to see Michael Meehan back playing a full game and looking reasonably sharp. It would be terrific if he can stay injury free and get back to full fitness.
Blending new players into any team or panel takes time and the FBD league is an ideal opportunity. It will give the new lads on the panel a chance to find their feet and get some game time under their belt in competitive games, and see if they can nail down a starting place for the National League in a few weeks time.
Playing against the elements, Galway led by 0-6 to 0-3 at half-time and, with the wind and rain at their backs, they looked likely victors at that juncture.
When NUIG centre back Robbie Kiely was sent off for a second yellow early in the second half, the game was over as a contest and it was just a question of how much Galway would score.
Galway ran the bench in the last quarter and three of the subs, Shane Walsh, Eoin Concannon and Sean Armstrong, all raised flags to seal an easy two points.
Sligo and Leitrim win
Elsewhere in the FBD league, Kevin Walsh's Sligo enjoyed an easy 0-14 to 0-5 win over Sligo IT at Ballinode. Niall Murphy and Mark Breheny hit five points each for last year's beaten Connacht finalists. Sligo face NUIG this Sunday in Tourlestrane (2pm ).
Leitrim scored the last four points of their joust at Elphin with John Evan's Roscommon to win by a single score, 0-6 to 0-5. They will face All-Ireland finalists Mayo this Sunday at Ballinamore (2pm ).
Galway: M Breathnach, D O'Neill, D Finnegan, C Forde, C Costello (0-1 ), G Sice, G Bradshaw, A Griffin, N Coleman; J O'Brien (0-1 ), M Martin (0-3 ), S Denvir; M Meehan (0-4 two frees, 1 '45' ), P Conroy 0-2, D Cummins 0-1. Subs: S Walsh (0-1 ) for Cummins (45 ), E Concannon (0-1 ) for O'Brien (49 ), M Boyle for Denvir (49 ), G O'Donnell for Griffin (51 ), S Armstrong (0-2 ) for Coleman (58 ).
NUI Galway: D O'Sullivan, K Moynagh, J Moore, C McDonald; G Sweeney, R Kiely, C Halloran, E O hEochaigh 0-1, S Moran; S Nally (0-1, free ), F O Deasmhunaigh (0-1 ), C Walsh (0-1 ); I Galvin (0-2 ), K Murtagh, Cathal Brennan. Subs: D Gavin for Moynagh (27 ), K Crowe for O hEochaigh (37 ), C O'Donnell for Halloran (38 ), J Egan for Cathal Brennan (51 ), E Troy for Moran (58 ).
