Ruthless Galway pile the pain on Westmeath

After blowing a winning position against Wexford, there was no let-up for Galway against Joe Fortune's side

23 April 2022; Conor Shaw of Westmeath in action against Brian Concannon of Galway during the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 2 match between Galway and Westmeath at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Leinster SHC: Galway 3-36 Westmeath 1-17 

Galway were ruthless at Pearse Stadium as 13 players hit the target to get their first championship win under Henry Shefflin as Westmeath felt the full force of a side with a point to prove.

The manner in which they surrendered a winning hand in Wexford had rankled all week and they didn’t relent against a Westmeath side who just were not able to cope with this sort of pressure.

Joe Fortune’s men had battled bravely last week against Kilkenny but this one was done and dusted by the 13th minute as Galway used the wind to build a 1-8 to 0-1 lead when Cianan Fahy got their first goal.

Ten players hit the target for Galway in the opening half as they built up a 2-25 to 0-8 interval lead. Killian Doyle shot seven points for Westmeath, six of them frees and one from a ’65, while former Galway player Davy Glennon got their only point from play.

Both midfielders and all six forwards hit the target from play by the 16th minute, while wing-backs Padraic Mannion and Fintan Burke also hit the target from distance in an awesome display of shooting.

They had two points on the board inside 50 seconds and that set the trend for the opening half. They shot 2-20 from their first 23 shots before recording half a dozen wides before the interval.

Galway got their second goal with a quality move, with Darren Morrissey starting it at the back before David Burke hit a superb long crossfield which Brian Concannon slipped into the path of Joseph Cooney and he raced through to finish superbly after 18 minutes.

Westmeath rallied somewhat after the restart with Derek McNicholas getting in for a goal after 40 minutes, while Killian Doyle’s accuracy kept chipping away at the lead.

But Galway pulled away again and Conor Cooney blasted home a 56th minute penalty after he himself was fouled by Robbie Grevoille, who was black-carded as the Tribesmen ran out easy winners.

Leaving Cert student Gavin Lee came off the bench to shoot a couple of points and they will return to training this weekend ahead of the showdown with Kilkenny with real momentum after this display.

GALWAY: É Murphy; J Grealish, Daithí Burke, D Morrissey (0-1); P Mannion (0-2), G McInerney, F Burke (0-1); David Burke (0-3), C Mannion (0-4); T Monaghan (0-1), C Cooney (1-8, 1-0 pen, 0-5f), J Cooney (1-5); E Niland (0-2), C Fahy (1-4), B Concannon (0-2). 

Subs: T Killeen for P Mannion (half-time) K Cooney for Monaghan (52), G Lee (0-2) for Niland (59), É Burke (0-1) for C Cooney (63), J Coen for Daithi Burke (71).

WESTMEATH: C Bracken; C Shaw, T Doyle, J Bermingham (0-1); A Craig, R Greville, J Galvin; C Boyle, K Regan (0-1); D Glennon (0-1), D McNicholas (1-0), J Boyle; K Doyle (0-14, 0-12f, 0-1’65), N O’Brien, N Mitchell. 

Subs: C Kane for C Boyle, O McCabe for McNicholas (51), A Cox for T Doyle (52), J Gillen for (58), S McGovern for O’Brien (65).

Referee: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)