Galway get a scare in New York

Galway 2-13New York 0-12

Kevin Dwyer

Galway visitors to New York had to endure a bomb scare in Times Square on Saturday night but the Galway supporters would regard the scare they got at Gaelic Park on Sunday afternoon, from a physically strong and game New York team, more worrying as they consider the future for the Tribesmen heading into a very likely highly competitive Connacht Championship.

Admittedly, before the game, Galway manager, Joe Kernan, said that he would be happy with a win and a good performance from his side, they delivered 50% of what he was looking for as the Tribesmen struggled in the searing heat of Gaelic Park to shake off a dogged New York side as his side performed well below expectations in this opening round of the Connacht Championships.

The loss of two players by New York to red cards in the second half tilted the balance in Galway’s favour but even when they were down to 13 players the home side continued to battle gamely and made Galway work all the way to the final whistle before safely securing victory.

It all looked so different at the start of the game when Padraic Joyce slotted home Galway’s first score, a goal from close range, and indeed the return of the Killererin man was one of the few positives Galway can take out of the game as he showed his class by continuously scoring each time he gained possession.

But for all of this Galway were struggling, particularly at the middle of the field where New York deployed two big men in the form of Pat Madden and Adrian O’Connor, and Barry Cullinane and Niall Coleman failed to win enough clean possession for Galway. New York were also quicker to the breaking ball so that the Galway were starved of possession and the defence had to work exceptionally hard to keep the home side at bay.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.