Tipp win against off-the-boil Galway

Tipperary 4-22 Galway 1-20

Tipperary ran out impressive winners at Pearse Stadium against a Galway side who were well off the pace in a game which lacked real intensity.

A goal from a sideline by Brendan Maher helped Tipp race into a 1-5 to 0-1 lead after just nine minutes.

Galway hauled them back with three points from Joe Canning and one from Damien Hayes.

But Tipperary upped the pace and a goal from Shane Bourke after 17 minutes helped them go 2-10 to 0-5 ahead after 21 minutes.

Tipperary made the most of some poor marking and picked off points from all angles.

Galway rallied before the break and a goal from Joe Canning from a 20-metre free reduced the margin to 2-13 to 1-9 at the interval.

Galway enjoyed their best spell in the third quarter, with Aidan Harte impressing after being introduced.

He got two points and with Canning, Niall Healy and Davy Glennon also finding the range, just a goal separated the sides heading into the final quarter.

But Tipperary finished the game very strongly and left the Tribesmen in their wake.

John O’Dwyer crowned a superb performance with a goal from close range after 53 minutes which helped the Killenaule man to a haul of 1-6 from play.

Seamus Callanan quickly followed with a point to make it 3-18 to 1-17 with 17 minutes remaining.

Galway never looked like getting in for a goal and had to settle for points from Canning and Hayes to leave them five adrift six minutes from time.

But that was as near as they got as Tipp pulled away once more. O’Dwyer picked off another point before Lar Corbett took a ball and pace and soloed through before flicking it with one hand to the net.

Jason Forde, Shane McGrath and O’Dwyer finished the rout with a flurry of points in the final moments as Tipp back up their win over All-Ireland champions Kilkenny with an even more impressive victory against last year’s championship runners-up.

Tipp will now go into the final two rounds against Waterford and Clare with renewed confidence.

But Galway could now face a relegation battle and will be looking for victories in their remaining games against Cork and Waterford in the coming weeks.

The victorious St Thomas’ players will come back into the Galway squad and they could do with a boost based on this poor performance at Pearse Stadium when Tipp dished out a lesson to them in how to finish chances.

Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).