Galway fly out of the blocks to go top of the league

Galway 3-13

Clare 1-11

A dirty day in Salthill but a most satisfying one for the home team, who maintained their unbeaten start to the National Football League and climbed to the summit of the Division Two table.

Pearse Stadium survived a Sunday morning pitch inspection thanks to the best efforts of the local groundsmen and despite the best efforts of storm Ewan, which brought strong winds and buckets of rain overnight.

The wintery elements didn’t spoil this third-round clash, however, as both sets of players defied the challenging conditions and provided decent enough entertainment for the 2,639 hardy souls in attendance.

You can’t argue with an eight-points victory but still, there was enough in this display to keep the Galway set-up and supporters grounded ahead of a tricky away journey to Navan against Meath this weekend.

Firstly, Clare wasn’t perhaps as strong as they might be. The Banner arrived over the border with a reputation as an improving force to be reckoned with but Colm Collins’ men only showed glimpses of the form that brought them to the last eight in the 2016 championship.

Galway did have the measure of them but let’s play devil’s advocate: at times the Tribesmen’s defence looked porous, and exposed, and at the other end, Galway spurned several goal-scoring chances that might have proved crucial on other days. Nit picking? Maybe.

And in both teams’ defence, it is only Spring, and conditions were horrendous, but Galway manager Kevin Walsh won’t allow the comprehensive nature and margin of victory to mask the areas that need improvement.

There was plenty to please in this performance by Galway, too. Any day you raise three green flags is a good day, regardless of the wasted opportunities, and all the more so given that goal-merchants Damien Comer and Danny Cummins didn’t feature due to injury.

The likes of Barry McHugh and Michael Daly, appearing in their first senior campaigns, were lively again and justified their selection.  The return from injury of Shane Walsh, was welcome, and he brought a real spark to the attack – despite firing a few wides, the Kilkerrin/Clonberne man scored 1-1, set-up his team’s first goal, and was agonisingly close to scoring another when he rattled the woodwork.

The integration of the Corofin contingent back into an extended panel is another positive, as Walsh continues to assemble a strong squad. The high work rate – epitomised by forward Eamon Brannigan’s brave second-half block-down deep in his own defence – couldn’t be questioned, nor could Galway’s attitude.

Half-back was the most impressive line for Galway where Gareth Bradshaw, put in a man-of-the-match shift in the central position alongside the impressive Gary O’Donnell, who looks rejuvenated on the wing, and the busy Johnny Heaney. They scored 1-4 between them, including 1-2 for the number six.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune