Galway blow strong hand in failing to finish off Wexford

Wexford 1-19

Galway 1-19

John McIntyre at Wexford Park

THIS was careless in the extreme from the Galway hurlers. What should have been a momentum-building victory in the opening round of the Leinster Championship ended up being a missed opportunity and the Tribesmen have only themselves to blame.

Heading to Wexford Park on Saturday, it was hard to get a handle on what Galway might be capable of, but so ordinary were their hosts, it would have taken nothing exceptional from the men in maroon to have carried the day.

Instead, Galway spurned a winning hand and though ultimately drawing this round-robin tie isn’t a disaster, they will be kicking themselves for not having the points wrapped up after the opening quarter when Wexford were surprisingly subdued, out of sorts, and lacking championship sharpness.

Galway had the chances to make hay but a scatter of wides – five alone in the opening five minutes – prevented them from exploiting their dominance on the scoreboard. They still led by 1-11 to 0-8 at the break but had left Wexford hanging on when they should have already been buried.

Such wastefulness didn’t appear that it was going to prove costly for much of the second-half, despite Galway no longer creating as many openings against an improving Wexford rearguard. With 62 minutes on the clock, Henry Shefflin’s charges were 1-18 to 0-15 ahead and on the brink of a workmanlike success.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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