Galway come up well short in below performance against hungry Cats

Galway 0-15

 ABOUT the only saving grace of this deflating defeat is that it isn’t terminal. Otherwise, the Galway players would be racked with guilt for serving up such a disjointed and below-par display in a largely forgettable Leinster Hurling Final at Croke Park on Saturday evening.

Strong favourites to inflict a second championship defeat on Kilkenny in a matter of weeks – that alone should have introduced a sense of foreboding – Galway fell far short of the standards required to become provincial champions and now face a major challenge to resurrect their All-Ireland ambitions.

With momentum and an unbeaten run through Leinster behind them, the belief was that Galway were building up a significant head of steam, but they simply failed to fire in a subdued display and never convinced at any stage of a fractured decider that the team’s recent good record against the Cats would be maintained.

Only trailing by two points at the interval and with wind advantage to come, Galway still had every chance of carrying the day, but they couldn’t get anything going over a sustained period, and too many players from midfield up were on the margins of the action.

Between them, Tom Monaghan, Johnny Coen, Joseph Cooney, Cathal Mannion and Brian Concannon failed to register a solitary score, leaving the gallant Conor Whelan, who shot four points from play, as the only consistent threat to the resolute Kilkenny rearguard.

Conor Cooney couldn’t be faulted for effort on the forty and had some big moments, but his tally of six wides is unacceptable at this level. Cianan Fahy was the only other Galway forward to score from play and though both his points were quality efforts, especially the first one, he wasn’t a major influence. Still, his replacement before several other out-of-sorts attackers was baffling.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.