The Galway hurlers are back up the motorway again this weekend when they head to Parnell Park on Saturday to take on Dublin in the Walsh Cup semi-final (2pm ).
Galway qualified for the semi-final courtesy of an easy 2-15 to 1-9 victory over Carlow last weekend. The conditions were horrid in Dr Cullen Park for that fixture and Galway did more than enough to get their season under way.
Galway were without their college or St Thomas players and they started with seven of the side that lined out in last September's All-Ireland final replay.
Two other starters from four months ago, Damien Hayes and Iarla Tannian, also joined the fray during the contest.
Pearse's Emmet Ward started at wing-forward and Aonghus Callinan, who is was back from a year's sabbatical, lined out at corner forward.
Galway led by 1-10 to 1-3 at the small whistle, thanks to a Joe Canning penalty, and they ran out easy winners in the end, following a second goal by Damien Hayes.
Defensively Galway did some good things, with Johnny Coen impressing at corner back and Fergal Moore manning the centre-back position.
“It was a typical first day of the year," said Galway manager Anthony Cunningham.
"It blew away the cobwebs a bit, and we’ll have to have a big step-up on that display to have a crack at Dublin next weekend.”
Scorers for Galway: J Canning 1-7 (1-0 pen, 0-6 frees ); D Hayes 1-0; N Healy 0-3; J Grealish 0-2 (1f ); E Ward, T Haran, S Moloney 0-1 each.
Galway: F Flannery, J Coen, K Hynes, N Donoghue, D Collins, F Moore, A Harte, A Smith, T Haran, E Ward, J Grealish, P Gordon, N Healy, J Canning, A Callinan. Subs: D Hayes for Ward (30 ); D Glennon for Callinan (h-t ); I Tannian for Harte (46 ); S Maloney for Haran (54 ); P Brehony for Healy (62 ).
