Galway battle back in hard earned win over Waterford

Waterford 1-9

By Tomás McCarthy at SETU Arena

A gritty Galway outfit recovered from four points down to secure back to back National League victories on Saturday afternoon.

Waterford, fired up by their opening round loss to Cork, led 1-8 to 0-7 early in the second half. Maggie Gostl found the net while Mairéad O’Brien and Niamh Rockett shot two points each.

The home side went 32 minutes without a score, however and Galway regrouped. Eight unanswered points turned the game around. Captain Carrie Dolan knocked over eight frees while defenders Shauna Healy, Ciara Hickey and Áine Keane drove up the field and delivered inspirational second half scores.

“We’re really happy with the second half performance,” said manager Cathal Murray. “In the first half, they were the dominant team and probably didn’t put the chances on the board. In the second half, we upped it. We talked about it at half time. We weren’t aggressive enough, we weren’t getting to the breaking balls, we weren’t winning the rucks. The last 20 minutes were really good and hopefully we can build on that.”

Five-time All-Star Aoife Donohue roared on her colleagues from the stand. Murray revealed that she is close to a return. “We’re hoping that Aoife will be back training with us on Monday night, light training, non-contact. The same with Siobhán Gardiner, she was back last week. Brilliant to see her. Ally Hesnan is still injured. Fiona Ryan is after getting a stress fracture which is going to keep her out for a few months. It’s good to see players coming back.”

The visitors raced 0-5 to 0-1 up after eight minutes. Dolan converted two frees while Sabina Rabbitte, Niamh Niland and Olwen Rabbitte also split the posts. Maggie Gostl opened Waterford’s account from an acute angle. Abby Flynn beat two Galway defenders but her close range effort was saved by goalkeeper Sarah Healy.

Mairéad O’Brien, Flynn and Gostl threatened up top and the home side hit back. Niamh Rockett fired two points while O’Brien and Flynn knocked over one apiece to level the contest. O’Brien then saw a shot deflected away for a 45 which Beth Carton converted (0-6 to 0-5).

Niamh Mallon equalised off a Waterford turnover. The impressive O'Brien restored the Déise's lead with her second point. On 27 minutes, Carton got in behind the Galway rearguard and played a pass across to Gostl. She missed the ball with the hurley but still managed to deflect it home. A four point deficit was suddenly a four point lead. Dolan nailed her third free in injury time as the hosts led by three at the break (1-7 to 0-7).

Pictured: Galway's Ciara Hickey and Abby Flynn of Waterford tussling for possession during Saturday's National Camogie League tie at the SETU Arena.