Galway striving to put best foot forward in Walsh Park

THE hurlers of Galway and Waterford will clash for only the third time since the 2017 All-Ireland final when doing battle in the National League at Walsh Park on Sunday (2pm).

With both teams’ having their respective weekend’s fixtures wiped out by the strong winds, Galway will be hoping to avoid another game becoming a casualty of the weather as also happened against Waterford in early March of last year.

That league clash was an eleventh-hour postponement after Waterford was hit by a torrential downpour in the hours preceding the game, resulting in a fruitless journey for Galway players, mentors and supporters.

In the subsequent re-arranged fixture, Waterford overhauled an interval 1-11 to 0-2 deficit in difficult conditions, with Shane Bennett flicking home an unlikely injury-time winner.

The two teams went on to renew rivalry in the league semi-final at Nowlan Park – a game which won’t bring back too many fond memories for the Tribesmen.

Galway had forced much of the pace and when Mikey Kearney was sent off for Waterford in the final quarter, it appeared Micheál Donoghue’s charges were bound for the decider.

But Waterford defied the odds in snatching a 1-18 to 2-13 victory in a match where Kevin Moran’s shuddering challenge on Joe Canning resulted in the Galway talisman being stretched off the field late on.

That result and Canning’s injury hardly helped morale in the build up to the championship, a campaign which was brutally and unexpectedly cut short by Dublin at Parnell Park in early June.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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