Six-goal Galway destroy 14-man Antrim

GALWAY GOAL GLUT: Niall O’Connor of Antrim holds the leg of Brian Concannon of Galway during the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 4 match. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Galway 6-27 Antrim 1-14

The real championship decider will come for both of these sides next week.

But while Galway will head into their clash with Dublin looking for a place in the Leinster final on the back of a 28-points win, Davy Fitzgerald will have his work lifting Antrim for their relegation clash against Offaly.

And they will go into a second successive game with a man suspended as they crumbled against a Galway side that took some time to pull away in the opening half.

But the game was over as a contest by half-time as Galway led by 2-13 to 0-8 having played against the breeze, with Antrim being reduced to 14 men before the break when Declan McCloskey was sent off after linesman Johnny Murphy spotted something off the ball.

Antrim failed to make use of the wind, often leaving Joseph McLaughlin as the only forward in the inside line, while seven wides from good positions undermined any hope of a shock win.

Galway made half a dozen changes from the side which defeated Wexford with Cathal Mannion, who had scored just under half of their total in the three Leinster SHC games prior to this, not starting.

But with Conor Whelan revelling in a half-forward role and Gavin Lee spraying good ball from centre-back, Galway dominated from the outset against an Antrim side without top scorer James McNaughton who was suspended.

It did take Galway some time to make their dominance count on the scoreboard and a point from Eoin O’Neill for Antrim cut the gap to 0-6 to 0-5 at the end of the opening quarter.

Galway led by just three points approaching the half hour but then they pulled away. Brian Concannon dispatched a shot to the roof of the net on the turn while an advantage was being played for a foul on Whelan and five minutes later a delivery from Seán Linnane was finished to the net by Anthony Burns.

Conor Cooney added three point frees as well in that time with McCloskey getting his marching orders to complete a miserable period of the game for Davy Fitzgerald’s side.

It was all one-way traffic after the restart. Galway, who have an injury concern over full-back Fintan Burke, withdrew several players but still bossed matters.

Concannon got Galway’s third goal after 40 minutes after being set up by Burns and four minutes later they switched roles when Burns also got his second of the match after Concannon picked him out.

By the end ten Galway players found the target, with Declan McLoughlin hitting 1-1 after coming on when Concannon again turned provider and after Niall McGarrell pulled back a consolation goal late in the game for Antrim.

Galway finished strongly with Kevin Cooney racing through for their sixth goal.

Scorers for Galway: C Cooney 0-11 (0-9f), A Burns 2-2, B Concannon 2-0, T Monaghan 0-6, K Cooney, D McLoughlin 1-1 each, C Whelan, R Glennon 0-2 each, D Morrissey, S Linnane 0-1 each.

Scorers for Antrim: J McLaughlin 0-7 (0-6f), N McGarrell 1-0, G Walsh 0-3 (3f), E O’Neill 0-2, N O’Connor, C McKeown 0-1 each.

Galway: D Fahy; J Ryan, F Burke, D Morrissey; S Linnane, G Lee, TJ Brennan; C Fahy, R Glennon; T Monaghan, C Cooney, C Whelan; A Burns, B Concannon, K Cooney.

Subs: J Grealish for F Burke (35), D Loftus for Morrissey (half-time), J Cooney for Whelan (43), M Garvey for Lee (43), D McLoughlin for Burns (57).

Antrim: R Elliott; S Rooney, N O’Connor, P Burke; D McCloskey, C Boyd, C Bohill; G Walsh, S McKay; R McCambridge, E Campbell, N Elliott; C McKeown, E O’Neill, J McLaughlin.

Subs: E McFerran for Burke (12-20), McFerran for Rooney (20), S Walsh for N Elliott (half-time), P Boyle for McCabe (53), N McGarrell for McLaughlin (61).

Referee: Thomas Gleeson (Dublin).