Galway 1-19
Cork 0-15
Only four times had Galway previously beaten Cork in championship hurling and that statistic alone made Galway's seven-point win over the Rebels all the more worthwhile as John McIntyre's men marched on to a meeting with Waterford next weekend.

Cork led the record tables by a whopping 26-4 from the previous 30 clashes with Galway eventually making the breakthrough in 1975.

However this group of hurlers have little respect for tradition and following on from a good performance against Kilkenny and successive victories over Clare and Cork, they can now look ahead with tremendous confidence in the bid to reach the final stages and perhaps the ultimate prize, the Liam McCarthy cup. Galway are now in the last six and have just three more games to annex the ultimate award, but there is still much to work on and improve.

In the opening half Galway depended on the expert free taking of the maestro Joe Canning to keep them in the game, but Galway management could be given no accolades as they allowed Joe Canning to wander out the field with no target player inside. Indeed the Tribesmen were luck that they led at the break such was the inept negativity of their attack approach to the game. They had also hit nine wides, five of which came in the opening eleven minutes. When they eventually moved Canning to the edge of the square just before half time, the young talented hurler almost grabbed a Galway goal.

After a forgettable opening half Galway led by 0-8 to 0-7, but immediately on the restart had started in a brighter fashion. Three points in as many minutes from Andy Smith, Ger Farragher and Canning had signalled the intent that they wanted this game. Canning added another brace, but Cork refused to yield and they struck five points also in the third quarter with three in succession that saw Galway leading by just the bare minimum 0-13 to 0-12 at the three quarter stage.

Then out of nothing a free for all developed with Cork's John Gardiner and Galway's Andy Smith both being issued with yellow cards and when order was restored Galway assumed control. Canning and Aonghus Callanan pointed and although Ben O'Connor struck over another brace of frees, Galway hit for the killer blow eight minutes from the end.

Galway substitute Kevin 'Chunky' Hayes was just minutes on the field when he collected a ball near the sideline and with the neatest of strikes, found Joe Canning with a precision pass. Canning was inside the defence but the advancing Donal Og Cusack brought off a super save from Canning's goal bound effort. However the ball broke to Joe Gantley who crashed the ball to the Cork net. Niall McCarthy and Damien Hayes sapped points, but then McCarthy missed a real goal chance and blazed wide from close range and Galway sealed the game with a succession of points from Hayes, Kevin Hayes and Aonghus Callanan.

Galway: C Callanan; F Moore, S Kavanagh, O Canning, D Joyce, J Lee, E Lynch; G Farragher (0-1), K Hynes (0-1); A Callanan (0-2), C Donnellan, A Smith (0-2); D Hayes (0-3), J Canning (0-10, 0-8,frs, 0-1s/l, 0-1'65), N Healy. Subs: J Gantley (1-0) for Healy (50 mins), K Hayes for Donnellan (59 mins), E Forde for Hynes (69 mins), A Coen for Lynch (71 mins).

Cork: D Og Cusack; S O'Neill, E Cadogan, C O'Sullivan; J Gardiner (0-1), R Curran, S Og O hAilpin (0-1); T Kenny, J O'Connor; B O’Connor (0-9, 0-6frs, 0-1'65), P Cronin, T McCarthy; K Murphy (0-2), A O hAilpin, P Horgan (0-1). Subs: T Og Murphy for Horgan (55 mins), Niall McCarthy (0-1) for T McCarthy (55 mins), G Callanan for Murphy (58 mins), C Naughton for Cronin (64 mins).

Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment