Galway’s late scoring blitz completes stunning comeback

Galway . . . 2-22

Waterford . . . 2-19

THIS was a mad game – one of those you’d nearly have to see to believe. The wild fluctuations in the rival team’s periods of dominance often stretched the bounds of logic, but the most important thing was that the Galway hurlers were the ones standing afterwards.

In the context of the final result, it hardly seems possible that the Tribesmen were so bad in the opening quarters of both halves that they drove their supporters to the brink of despair, leaving them virtually reconciled to another knock-out defeat by Galway’s bogey’s team.

Naturally, it’s a huge concern that the men in maroon found themselves nine points in arrears in the opening half and then falling a yawning 2-18 to 1-11 adrift after 44 minutes in the first place, but the manner in which Galway twice rallied in front of a big crowd of over 12,000 is potentially transformative.

Their grandstand finish was completely at odds with some really sloppy play earlier. Similar to the Limerick game the previous weekend, Galway were caught sleepwalking from the throw-in. Unforced errors, poor first-touches, some bad wides and losing the breaking-ball battle to Waterford all conspired to leave them floundering.

Galway were also struggling in the air as the wind-assisted Déise men stormed into a 0-11 to 0-2 lead after 23 minutes. It left the hosts staring down the barrel of a hammering as they struggled to cope with Waterford’s physique, sharpness and energy.

The Galway defence, in particular, was completely at sea. Even Gearóid McInerney at centre back was unable to provide any stability as he had his hands full with the inexperienced Stephen Roche, who finished the game with three points to his credit. Behind him, Daithí Burke and John Hanbury, who was forced to retire injured, were both under serious pressure.

Waterford were cutting through at will and though Galway had admirably rallied to close the deficit to three points by the interval, when big Tom Devine broke clear for a brace of goals in the space of a minute early in the second-half, an eerie silence descended over the home crowd.

You wouldn’t have given a tuppence for Galway’s chances then, but one player in particular helped to stop the rot before inspiring a magnificent final quarter comeback. Joe Canning, who had been one of their better players in the opening-half, simply went to town from his wing-forward base as he sent over a series of terrific points from both play and placed balls.

Canning was the man who dragged his team back into the battle, but the response from his colleagues was also uplifting. Galway were now mopping up under the Waterford puck-out as the opposition were torn apart over the final 22 minutes – being outscored by a staggering 1-11 to 0-1.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune