Lively hurlers continue to move in the right direction

Inside Track with John McIntyre

The least improving Galway hurlers deserved was a draw from their feisty Division 1A National League battle against All-Ireland champions Clare on Sunday. The reality was that some spurned goal chances and a couple of contentious refereeing decisions contributed to letting the home team off the hook at Cusack Park, Ennis.

Substitute referee Diarmuid Kirwan inexplicably failed to award Cathal Mannion a second half penalty when he was blatantly fouled by opposition goalkeeper Patrick Kelly. The Cork official may have initially applied the advantage rule, but the promising Ahascragh/Fohenagh player only managed to boot the ball wide such was the illegal pressure he was under.

In the circumstances, there was no ‘advantage’ to Galway and Kirwan ought to have blown back for the original foul in a sometimes tempestuous encounter which attracted the guts of a big crowd of 10,000. Overall, Clare custodian Kelly had a significant role in earning his team a share of the spoils as he also made outstanding close range saves from Niall Healy and Niall Burke, whose physique adds an important dimension to the Galway attack.

Davy Fitzgerald’s charges had valiantly striven to compensate for the late opening half dismissal of newcomer Shane Golden, but they still had to introduce most of the heavy artillery left off for the start with All Star attacker Conor McGrath making a huge impact on his introduction. Emptying the bench wouldn’t have saved them either only for Kirwan harshly penalising Iarla Tannion for loitering over a line ball in injury time and from the resulting throw in, he somehow awarded Clare a very dubious free.

Naturally, Galway manager Anthony Cunningham was incensed, but all the Tribesmen boss got for his remonstrations was the free being brought forward, leaving another Clare reserve, Colin Ryan, with a more straightforward task of levelling the match. Ultimately, results elsewhere ensured the Tribesmen didn’t need the win to reach the league quarter finals but, to say the least, it would have been a nice feather in their caps.

For all that, Galway are continuing to move in the right direction with the form of young players like Mannion, Padraig Brehony and Daithi Burke suggesting they have the potential to not alone survive but thrive at this level. Sunday’s positive result has now earned the Tribesmen a knock out collision against Munster champions Limerick – a team they haven’t played competitively in a number of seasons – at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday.

Cunningham must be heartened by what he is seeing at present. There’s clearly a good spirit in the camp and the manner in which the players rolled up their sleeves against Clare certainly bodes well for the championship. Galway brought physicality and intensity to Ennis with the result that the Banner men were never allowed the latitude or freedom which stamped their demolition of Waterford at the same venue the previous weekend.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.