Galway’s attacking twin towers prove much too hot for Wexford

THE hard evidence is incontrovertible. Galway hurlers are currently in a league of their own as they underlined once again with a clear-cut win over Wexford in the Leinster final at Croke Park on Sunday.

In securing the county’s second provincial title since first heading east in 2009, Galway lived up to all the hype about them with a nine-point triumph on a day the Cooneys, Conor and Joseph, cut loose up front.

Before the biggest crowd ever (60,032) to attend a Leinster final, the Tribesmen began to break free from gallant Wexford approaching half-time and the result was never really in doubt subsequently.

Galway’s latest demolition job has seen them harden as favourites (general odds of 6/4) to capture the Liam McCarthy Cup in September, but they won’t be in action again until the All-Ireland semi-final on August 6 . . . the closing day of the summer racing festival at Ballybrit.

Wexford’s qualification for a first provincial decider since 2008 added great excitement to the occasion and though Davy Fitzgerald’s charges lacked nothing in honesty or commitment, they couldn’t match Galway’s big-game experience and overall class.

The underdogs did spurn a great chance of staying in the hunt longer when Galway goalkeeper Colm Callanan brilliantly denied Conor McDonald’s penalty effort early in the second half, but that’s all it would have done as the men in maroon possessed the greater cutting edge in attack where the Cooney boys were on fire.

They landed a dozen points from play between them, with some of those scores of extraordinary quality. Throw in another massive defensive effort – characterised by the excellence of Padraic Mannion and the raw industry of John Hanbury – Galway had nearly all the bases covered.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.