Galway’s greater economy is enough to seal league points

CAVAN 0-11

FOUR unanswered Galway points during a tetchy eleven-minute second half spell, in which Cavan accumulated three black cards to the home side’s one, gave last year’s Division 1 finalists just about enough breathing space to record an opening day victory in a bitterly cold Pearse Stadium on Sunday.

The rapid-fire sin-binnings of Cavan’s Martin Reilly, Killian Brady, and Killian Clarke, along with Galway’s Peter Cooke, allowed the home side to counter-attack much more effectively once they had a numerical advantage, which lasted all of 16 minutes. Points by Johnny Heaney, Gary O’Donnell, Ian Burke, and Heaney again gave Galway an ample cushion of 0-12 to 0-8 against a side who never once threatened the net.

Shane Walsh, who prospered when space opened up, kicked his fourth free late on that seemed to put the points well and truly in the bag, but there was still time for Cavan to finally put some pressure on their hosts with three points in added time and Galway were somewhat relieved in the end to hear the blast of the final whistle.

While it ended up as a workmanlike win on a day when the offensive mark did not influence proceedings, there were enough positive elements to suggest Galway should do enough to retain their status in the top division. Nine points from play came from six different players, while after a hit and miss first half only one wide was recorded in the second thirty-five.

Cavan, for their part, squandered a plethora of first half scoring chances against a Galway side stuck in second gear for the majority of the opening period. Kevin Walsh’s men were able to eventually shake off their sluggishness as they showed a modicum of character to claw their way back from 0-5 to 0-2 down to go in level at the break against the side who had been beaten by Roscommon in last year’s Division 2 final.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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