Donoghue lauds team for bouncing back against Offaly hosts

FOLLOWING Galway’s victory over Offaly in Tullamore on Saturday evening, team manager Michéal Donoghue was satisfied with the performance of his players, and the manner in which they bounced back from their heavy defeat to Kilkenny in round one.

‘‘We’re happy first and foremost to get the result,’’ he said. ‘‘We wanted to bounce back after last week. We were very disappointed but, in fairness, to the lads they took ownership of it during the week and that was reflected in their performance today.’’

‘‘All the credit has to go to the lads, I thought they were savage today. They laid the foundation in the first half, and they put in a massive workmanlike performance in the second half. We used the ball really well and when the chances came the lads took them.’’

According to Donoghue, the Galway players were determined to redeem themselves after a disappointing afternoon in Nowlan Park in the first round.

‘‘It was a big challenge [to recover from the Kilkenny defeat], when you go week on week it can be very hard, especially when you have two away games. But look, it’s a testament to the players, they really owned it when we met for a recovery session the following day. The two training sessions that we had during the week were really good and they set the tone for today.

‘‘There is a really good spirit in the group. At half time, the lads spoke about working for each other and they certainly brought that out onto the pitch in the second half. Our work rate was really good today and that’s something we were really happy with.’’

Galway had much more success in winning puckouts and primary possession on Saturday evening, which helped to give them a platform to dominate their opponents. It was another improved aspect of their display which the manager was happy with.

‘‘It [puck outs] isn’t something that we worked any more on this week, but it is something that we have been working a lot on for the last four months. I think the difference was that we just executed it a lot better today than we did the last day.’’

Pictured: Galway Hurling Secretary Damien McGrath, team coach Aidan Harte and manager Micheál Donoghue taking issue with referee James Owens and his officials before the second half started against Offaly in Tullamore on Saturday evening. Photo: Joe O'Shaughnessy.