Moore joins walking wounded ahead of Galway’s relegation battle with Cork

USUALLY when a team is facing into a knock-out match in early April, it’s the legacy of a productive National League campaign. Unfortunately, Galway hurlers’ high stakes encounter against Cork on Sunday has nothing to do with the destination of this year’s title.

Instead, this Pearse Stadium fixture (3.45pm) is only about survival in the top flight of league hurling after Galway and the Rebels only managed to win one group match between them. Though the margins are obviously fine in a six team Division 1A, neither county will profit from pedalling excuses now.

Ironically, Galway’s only league victory came against Cork in their opening round encounter, also in Salthill. It was an open, loose-marking, high-scoring affair in which the hosts were comfortably the better outfit, with Niall Burke’s first half goal proving a key score.

Apart from a feisty effort against Kilkenny, Cork have been in freefall since. The nadir was reached when they were routed by Dublin at Croke Park, but Kieran Kingston’s struggling charges were also hit for 2-27 in their last outing against Tipperary.

On all the available evidence so far, there is little genuine prospect of Cork turning the tables on the Tribesmen, particularly as their porous defence continues to leak scores, while the Rebels’ overall record against Galway over the past few years is embarrassingly poor in the context of the way things used to be.

For all that, you’d expect to see a spiky Cork challenge on Sunday. They’ve shipped a lot of local criticism and pride alone should ensure the men in red will be fiercely competitive for their visit west. You’d also expect that they will set up defensively and try to avoid getting involved in a turkey shoot.

Furthermore, they expect to have Seamus Harney, who missed the Tipperary game due to illness, back in their line up and he was the player who led the fight against Kilkenny in Pairc Ui Rinn. With proven finishers Pat Horgan and Conor Lehane also up front, it’s clear where Cork have their strongest unit.

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