Victory comes at price for Galway

Galway 3-21 Wexford 3-11

Mon, 18 Mar, 2019 - 05:40

Declan Rooney

[team1]Galway[/team1][score1]3-21[/score1][team2]Wexford[/team2][score2]3-11[/score2][/score]

Galway recovered from the concession of three first-half goals to qualify for the Allianz Hurling league semi-final but Micheál Donoghue admitted the win came at a cost.

Captain Padraic Mannion and fellow defender Aidan Harte both limped out of this Pearse Stadium battle yet the hosts still delivered a powerful second-half display to set up a semi-final with Waterford next weekend

This was far from a perfect performance from the victors though. They needed Joe Canning to be in form from placed balls to stay in touch after Conor McDonald goaled twice in the first-half and Lee Chin fired a third before the interval. But Galway were a changed outfit on the restart.

“We wouldn’t have been happy with that first-half display. We could have defended them (the goals) a bit better, but that happens,” said Donoghue.

“We addressed it at half time and said we had to work harder, get a better attitude and I thought we did that well in the second half. We’re not going to get carried away about this win, but it’s nice to be in the league semi-final and have another big challenge next week. It’s one we look forward to.”

While the Wexford forwards impressed with the space they created for each other when playing against the strong wind in the first half, they also benefitted from generous defending by the hosts. Paul Killeen was tormented by McDonald in the opening half, but the move of Gearóid McInerney back there at half-time helped Galway’s cause. Wexford boss Davy Fitzgerald admitted his side were perplexed by the 14-3 half-time free count against his side, but his side’s ill-discipline was a greater reason for Canning’s tally than referee Cathal McAllister.

“He [Canning] didn’t miss anything. You said it yourself there ‘some of them seemed generous’. All we want is a fair run. We’re not saying a lot of them weren’t frees, but if you went in three or four or five up it’s a big difference,” said Fitzgerald.“I’m not going to make an excuse. We were poor in the second half and it’s a pity because we played some lovely stuff in the first half. I’m just very disappointed the way we were after the break.

“In any competitive game this year we have been like that. That’s the worst half (this year). The boys are in bits and they’re not happy. If you stand off a team like Galway you’re dead.”

The first half was a procession of spectacular Canning frees, some of which were scored from deep inside his own half. Wexford’s goals came at regular intervals and against the run of play, but with Canning hitting 12 of Galway’s 13 points, Wexford led 3-5 to 0-13 at the break. After the restart Fitzgerald’s side seemed to quickly run out of steam — they had based themselves in Clare the previous day and perhaps had some work done ahead of this fixture — but even as they visibly faded, Galway began to thrive. Cathal Mannion stared their comeback with a great goal, Niall Burke followed it up with a scrambled effort, while Tadhg Haran was only on the field when he hit their third at the death.

Scorers for Galway:

J Canning 0-15 (0-13f, 0-1’65), C Mannion 1-2, N Burke 1-1, T Haran 1-0, B Concannon 0-2, C Whelan 0-1.

Scorers for Wexford:

C McDonald 2-2 (0-1f), L Chin 1-2, P Morris 0-4 (0-3, 0-1’65), D O’Keefe 0-1, M O’Hanlon 0-1, A Nolan 0-1.

GALWAY:

F Flannery; J Grealish, P Killeen, S Loftus; D Morrissey, P Mannion, G McInerney; A Harte, C Mannion; N Burke, J Canning, T Monaghan; C Whelan, S Bleahene, B Concannon.

Subs for Galway:

K Hussey for P Mannion (22), D Glennon for Monaghan (34), J Coen for Morrissey (h-t), S Kilduff for Harte (63), T Haran for Bleahene (68).

WEXFORD:

M Fanning; S Donohoe, L Ryan, D Reck; S Murphy, M O’Hanlon, P Foley; J O’Connor, D O’Keeffe; A Nolan, L Chin, C Dunbar; K Foley, C McDonald, P Morris.

Subs for Wexford:

D Byrne for Ryan (38), L Og McGovern for J O’Connor (46), S Reck for D Byrne (52), I Byrne for Chin (58), H Kehoe for Morris (68).

Referee:

Cathal McAllister (Cork).