Connacht finish with a flourish

Connacht 3-13Leinster 1-16

John McIntyre in Tullamore

A heartening tale from Tullamore. Galway hurlers, in the guise of Connacht, twice rescued what was threatening to become a lost cause when ending a poor run of results against Leinster in this slow-burning Inter-provincial semi-final at O’Connor Park on Sunday.

What made the outcome all the more encouraging was that it was achieved by a team containing only four starters from last year’s All-Ireland final, with centre back Joseph Cooney the fringe player who most advanced his claims for regular inclusion with an authoritative display at the heart of the Connacht defence.

Ultimately, however, it took the introduction of half-time substitutes, Davy Glennon, in particular, and Damien Hayes, to swing a largely low key affair back in Connacht’s favour after Leinster, backboned by a heap of Kilkenny All-Ireland winners, had made flying starts to both halves.

A nine point haul from the impressive Niall Burke was also critical to the result. The Oranmore player had started the game at full forward, but became much more influential when he was switched to the forty. Burke, a powerful striker, hit four of those points from play and Kilkenny’s Brian Hogan couldn’t get to grips with him at all.

Before a crowd of almost 500, the Anthony Cunningham led management will also draw significant satisfaction from the efforts of newcomers Paul Killeen and Brian Flaherty in the corner back roles. Like the rest of their defensive colleagues, they took a while to find their bearings and, occasionally, were prone to rash challenges, but they were getting more secure as the match progressed.

Of interest too was the display of the recalled Shane Kavanagh at full back. Out of this level of hurling for about 18 months, he was understandably off the pace early on and had trouble with Richie Hogan, but the Kinvara man is bound to show the benefit of this outing.

One of the Galway regulars, Niall Donohue, performed with typical gusto and fairly quickly tied up Colin Fennelly after switching wings with Tony Og Regan, while another familiar face, Cyril Donnellan, picked off three fine points and lent most assistance to Burke up front. 

Initially, the arrival of Glennon, despite scoring an early second-half point, and Hayes didn’t seem to have much impact on the action, especially as both were playing very deep with Connacht trying to nullify the effect of facing the strong wind. It was only when the sideline reverted to a more orthodox formation after the unmarked Jackie Tyrell was clearing ball for fun, that this diminutive duo really sparked an unlikely recovery by the Westerners.

Glennon’s energy and forceful running had Leinster in trouble and he also showed no shortage of bravery in booting home the match-winning goal in the 64th minute, especially as the advancing Leinster goalkeeper Gary Maguire was clearly never going to pull out of the tackle.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.