Galway make flying start to Division Two campaign

GALWAY 2-13

MEATH 1-12

GALWAY cleared the first fence in the 2015 National League chase with a fair bit of daylight to spare between hoof and ditch . . . a clean jump that sets in train modest hopes of decent performances in the grade one events to come, when the sun gets higher in the sky.

A good start can mean a lot to league momentum and Galway were fully deserving of their four point margin of victory on Sunday before an appreciative home crowd of just over 3,200 at the recently drained Pearse Stadium pitch.

Home expectations in the run-up to this match were reasonably modest given that nearly half a team of potential first team regulars were absent for a variety of reasons – the players though that got their chance against Meath, fairly chomped at the bit and clearly delivered a ‘we want more of this’ message.

Meath, to put it kindly, though looked no great shakes, unable to match Galway’s early darts of pace and intensity in the tackle – the visitors really were extremely fortunate to go in at half-time only trailing by 1-6 to 0-5.

Mick O’Dowd’s men did have their bursts of spirit and Meath hearts are always in the right place, but for crucial chunks of this match, they struggled to match the speed of Galway and they can thank their hosts for a particularly wasteful period in the second quarter that kept this game alive as a contest.

Galway looked extremely fit, sharp and fast as they sliced through the Meath defence in the opening 14 minutes, sprinting into a 1-5 to 0-1 lead thanks to points from Paul Varley, Danny Cummins, (2), Eddie Hoare (2, 1 free).

The goal in the 14th minute typified a lot of Galway’s early play with the ball dispatched quickly to players moving at pace. Tom Flynn, Adrian Varley and Sean Denvir combined to set up Cummins for a close range finish although for a split second, Patrick O’Rourke appeared to have the effort smothered.

In one of the few areas for some Galway concern, their failure to finish off Meath over the following seven minutes or so was a real frustration. Hoare missed a scoreable free while Flynn and Garreth Bradshaw dropped short balls into O’Rourke in the Meath goal – scores that would have put the game out of sight.

Instead Meath were given the chance to rally and by the 28th minute they had reduced the deficit to just three points at 1-5 to 0-5, thanks to three Michael Newman frees, a ‘45’ from keeper Patrick O’Rourke but just one point from play delivered by wing back Brendan Menton.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.