Galway make short work of limited Laois

Galway 3-28

Laois      1-14

IT may have taken three years to figure out how to deal with Laois’ hurling equivalent of the blanket defence, but in doing so in emphatic fashion in this one-sided Leinster semi-final at O’Connor Park, Tullamore last Saturday evening, Galway could just have procured an invaluable piece of the puzzle.

In their two previous meetings, Laois had been the stone embedded in the sole of Galway’s shoe, causing the Westerners to hobble from their championship opener over two successive years into fixtures that were fraught with peril. And on both occasions Galway all but limped out of the championship.

However, buoyed by two championship games going into this Leinster semi-final – they had gone in cold against Laois in their last two encounters – and with a steely focus and, one suspects, a determination to right a few wrongs, Galway blew away Laois with a thoughtful, mature display.

It bodes well, for although Anthony Cunningham’s charges will not have to grapple with such a defensive structure in their mouth-watering Leinster decider against All-Ireland champions Kilkenny, a variation on this could be something they may have to deal with again down the line should they meet Waterford.

As for this one, a wind-assisted Galway were well and truly out of sight of Laois by half-time, leading 1-18 to 0-2. Their goal on 18 minutes came courtesy of corner back Johnny Coen, whose speculative delivery bounced unforgivingly between Laois custodian Eoin Reilly and a brawl of men in front of him to find the net.

It was a pivotal score for a number of reasons. For one, it left Laois at sixes and sevens as now they were caught between coming out to play and continuing to employ a sweeper system that, quite often, saw an extra two men flitting around the defensive lines which, in turn, left two Galway men free further down the field.

With Laois embracing the same tactic in their two meetings previously – and, really, bringing nothing new to the table – Galway had it figured out and smartly worked their free men onto possession where they could shoot from distance. That the Galway full-back line finished with 1-3 in total says it all.

Coen’s goal was fortuitous – no doubt about that – but it was also a successful return on the Galway game plan. In the ensuing minutes, full-back John Hanbury would land a superb point before corner back Padraig Mannion would add another two prior to the interval.

Once Galway began to build up momentum with these efforts from deep – so ripping up the Midlanders’ playbook – this direct style of play allowed the victors to keep the scoreboard ticking over with point after point, each of which they recorded with great alacrity. The bottom subsequently fell out of Laois’ world.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.