Galway show familiar failings

Waterford 0-24 Galway 1-21: An afternoon where the men from the west required both a performance and a result, and yet it was under-strength Waterford, already guaranteed their place in the league quarter-finals, who came away much the happier.

Events in Semple Stadium meant that even if the Tribesmen had held on for victory after their late surge, a relegation dogfight with Cork would not have been avoided. That sink-or-swim fixture the weekend after next will ultimately define Galway’s spring and, aside from the five-minute bursts at the end of either half yesterday, there weren’t a whole pile of positives for Michéal Donoghue and his backroom team to clutch to ahead of the rematch with Cork.

A sluggish start had the visitors 0-7 to 0-3 behind come the close of the first quarter and despite a Niall Burke goal on 33 minutes nudging them into a scarcely deserved 1-10 to 0-12 interval lead, Donoghue’s charges conceded six of the first eight scores of the second-half to hand the initiative straight back to the home outfit.