Battling Galway hurlers only come unstuck in late drama

Galway 0-18

IF Shane O’Neill was seeking to earn some early credit in the Galway GAA bank, he would have stacked his team with regulars for Saturday evening’s Walsh Cup final against Wexford at O’Moore Park, Portloaise.

Instead, the new Galway senior hurling manager took a more medium-term view of only his second competitive game in charge, fielding an experimental line-up which included barely a handful of established players.

With Wexford putting out a much more familiar outfit, it immediately stacked the odds against a fourth Galway Walsh Cup triumph, but it was only in injury time that the Tribesmen wilted after a committed display which deserved a better outcome.

It might have only been a tournament final, but Galway’s vigorous application – highlighted by free-taker Tadhg Haran – was more in keeping with a bigger prize at stake. Clearly, the players on duty were keen to make a statement and several of them did their causes no harm.

For much of the second-half, Galway’s understrength side appeared on course for an early season morale uplift. Holding a 0-17 to 0-12 lead by the 57th minute, the men in maroon only began to flag in the dying embers of this competitive struggle – a combination of their own exertions and Wexford’s renewed efforts late on.

Galway were holding onto a three-point lead only to pay the ultimate penalty for twice failing to clear their lines in the 72nd minute. The subdued Conor McDonald taking advantage to blast to the net and, in the process, levelling the match.

The Wexford supporters in the decent crowd of 1,725 – for a fixture at a neutral venue – were now animated and when wing back Paudie Foley subsequently lofted over a quality winning score from the right wing, the celebrations were more akin to a bigger day in the summer.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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