Tribesmen boss Donoghue content to get championship show on the road

ON the weekend of the passing of one of the greats of world sport, Muhammad Ali, Galway senior hurlers’ delivered a powerful Leinster quarter-final display that would have done justice to any knock-out punch the former three-time heavyweight boxing champion would have thrown.

To paraphrase one of Ali’s colourful lines, Micheal Donoghue’s charges ‘floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee’, delivering a succession of jabs that left Westmeath grabbling for the ropes as the Lake County trailed 0-17 to 0-5 at the interval.

In the second half, Galway trio Jason Flynn, Joseph Cooney and Conor Whelan all tallied goals to floor Westmeath and dump any hopes of an unlikely upset firmly on the canvas. If this had been played at Madison Square Garden or at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the contest would have been stopped.

At any rate, Galway manager Donoghue was relieved more than elated at the 3-27 to 0-19 victory. He and the Galway set-up simply wanted to get their campaign up and running. “Ah yeah, we are happy No. 1 to get it (championship) up and running and No. 2 to get the result.

“As we were saying inside, we were probably happier with the first half performance. In terms of the second half, I know we were well up so games tend to go that way. I think there is a lot of work we can still improve on and that is going to be the focus now for the next two weeks as we prepare for Offaly.”

While Westmeath, who had defeated Offaly, Kerry and Carlow in the Leinster round-robin series, arguably did not do themselves justice, Galway by the same token looked sharp and hungry throughout. Donoghue concurred.

“Yes, I think in the last two weeks they have really applied themselves. They also had four games in the club championship and they came back in good form. So, I suppose, it was just building on that match sharpness over the last two weeks. They applied themselves very well and thankfully they started well today.”

Indeed, they did. All of Galway’s starting forwards were on the scoresheet along with midfield duo David Burke and Davy Glennon, both of whom shot three points apiece. Substitutes Conor Cooney – with four beauties – Niall Burke and Padraig Brehony were also on target.