Canning the inspiration as Galway do enough

Galway 3-10

To coin a phrase, this wasn’t a classic. Fortunately, few more than 2,000 bothered to come and watch proceedings.

All the same, there were the odd moments of eye-catching skill, primarily provided by Galway skipper Ollie Canning.

Giving his typically controlled performance at corner-back, Canning was the best player on display by some distance.

It’s no exaggeration to say Galway would have lost this game without Canning, such was his excellence, but he was also well supported by those alongside him.

After a nervous start, Tony Óg Reagan settled into the full-back role and ended the game in accomplished form. Damien Joyce, beside him, rarely made a mistake while their half-back colleagues, with Fergal Healy in unfamiliar surroundings, grew in stature as the game progressed.

“Our defence played well, especially in the second-half,” agreed coach Conor Hayes. “Having said that, there was no great consistency in our play. Our shooting wasn’t great from some very good scoring opportunities.”

Hayes admits that there is still a possibility of Joe Rabbitte returning for the summer, and going on this form, they need him back and need Eugene Cloonan to mend pretty swiftly.

Apart from the two five-minute spells of scoring at the end of either half, Galway were woeful in front of goal.

They hit 15 wides and had to wait until the 26th minute of the second half to register their first score of that period.

At that stage, Wexford had come within a point of parity, but after Cathal Moore jigged his way through their defence, the Slaneysiders’ challenge disintegrated. They would barely muster an attack in the final ten minutes.

“I suppose if we took a few more of our chances, we would have been more comfortable near the end, but we are still trying different things. Damien (Hayes) came in, and even though, he’s at college in Bolton, he looked sharp. So, I am happy enough with things,” Hayes agreed .

The game started off scrappily and never really recovered. After Adrian Fenlon and Moore traded points, Rory Jacob sneaked round Regan’s blindside to flick Mitch Jordan’s feeble drive beyond Liam Donoghue, though questions must be asked as to why the Galway keeper wasn’t more commanding.

There was only five minutes gone and that goal would be the wedge between the teams for most of the half.

The teams went back to swapping scores, the pick of which was Rory McCarthy’s wonderful strike in the 12th minute, when the toil of Liam Dunne released him on the wing to float the ball over the bar.

McCarthy was ruling the roost around the middle and would do until Galway re-shuffled their pack, dragging Hayes back to partner Rory Gantley.

McCarthy faded somewhat in the second half, but Dunne offered a superb showing on the wing behind him. Easily Wexford’s best player, the veteran showed Pearse Stadium there was life in the old dog yet.

Following McCarthy’s point, the game went through one of its many barren spells. There wasn’t another score for 11 minutes, but it was worth waiting for.

The tenacity of Hayes did enough to release David Tierney, who sliced through a static Wexford defence and buried the ball past Fitzhenry. It levelled the teams at 1-3 each, but Galway weren’t finished.

Gantley and Codd swapped frees, while Barry Goff nailed two beauties of points before Tierney turned provider, setting Forde up for Galway’s second goal.

Within two minutes and just before the break, Richie Murray added a third, when Forde capitalised on a defensive mistake to play the ball into his path.

It was the final score of a stop-start half, leaving Galway with a mite undeserved 3-5 to 1-6 lead.

While Wexford owned the ball for the first 25 minutes of the second-half, resolute defending, from Canning in the main, meant they never bridged the gap.

Codd’s accuracy from frees brought them back into the game, before Jacob struck a beautiful score to leave the Leinster side just one point behind. But, that was their final score.

Galway’s forwards rediscovered their zest in the final ten minutes as Moore, Fahy and Murray scored three points, knocking the wind from Wexford’s sails.

For John Conran and Wexford, the warm feeling of last week’s victory over Offaly has been peeled away.

While there were some creditable performances yesterday, they still have yet to find the right chord to their game. Then again, it’s only April, that cruellest of months.

Scorers: Galway: R Murray(1-1), R Gantley(0-3, 2 frees), D Tierney, D Forde(1-0 each), C Moore, O Fahy(0-2 each), M Keirns, D Hayes(0-1 each) Wexford: R Jacob(1-1), P Codd(0-4, all frees), B Goff(0-2), R McCarthy, D Berry, A Fenlon(0-1 each)

GALWAY: L Donoghue; D Joyce, T Reagan, O Canning, F Healy, D O’Brien, B Mahony; R Gantley, R Murray; D Tierney, C Moore, D Hayes, O Fahy, M Keirns, D Forde Subs K Broderick for Keirns(21 mins), K Burke for Tierney(51 mins), A Keirns for Forde(60 mins)

WEXFORD : D Fitzhenry; D Guiney, D O’Connor, R Mallon, D Stamp, D Ruth, L Dunne; A Fenlon, R McCarthy, R Jacob, D Berry, B Goff, C McGrath, P Codd, M Jordan Subs C Kehoe for Guiney(14 mins), M Travers for Kehoe(30 mins), B lambert for McGrath(43 mins), MJ Furlong for Jordan (53 mins), L Murphy for Goff (67 mins)

Referee: T McIntyre (Antrim).