Galway get lucky as O’Neill lets hosts off the hook

CORK 1-11

QUITE heavy going in every sense of the expression at Pearse Stadium on Sunday in the opening stakes of the National Football League, but at least by the winning post, Galway had secured a dead heat finish thanks to equal measures of resilience and good fortune.

This start-up Division 2 encounter was far from a thing of beauty in the opening 35 minutes as Galway’s lateral play failed to get them into the scoring zone on more than a handful of occasions, while at the other end, the Cork forwards blasted a series of hapless wides.

The home crowd of about 2,500 were in a pretty frustrated state at the interval when Cork led by 1-3 to 0-5 after playing into the stiffish breeze with only one Galway forward – Danny Cummins – raising a white flag from play.

At that stage, things looked pretty grim for Galway, but in fairness to Kevin Walsh’s side, they rediscovered that sense of urgency, directness and purpose that they’ll need for the next six matches if they hope to join the ‘big boys’ in Division One next season.

Cork, despite all their critics, showed themselves to be a physically powerful side capable of holding onto the ball for long periods while also defending quickly in numbers – critically though, their finishing for the most part, was abysmal.

The Munster side clocked up 15 wides and also created the only three clear-cut goal chances of the match, so on balance – looking at the deal from a purely business perspective – Galway did quite well to extract a result from this match.

A fiery period of Galway play in the 10 minutes after half-time revived the spirits of the maroon followers with four quick points from Barry McHugh (2 frees), Danny Cummins and a super-strike from Paul Conroy powering the home side into a 0-9 to 1-4 lead.

The early second half introduction of Michael Daly and Cillian McDaid for Sean Armstrong and Eamon Brannigan also freshened up the Galway attack – McDaid landed a critical late point while Daly’s direct runs at the Cork defence caused them a lot of bother.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.