Galway come through in final quarter to avoid massive upset against Laois

GALWAY 1-22 LAOIS 0-23

Galway needed an injury-time goal-line block from Iarla Tannian to deny Laois what would have been one of the greatest shocks in the Leinster hurling championship at O'Moore Park yesterday.

Laois goalkeeper Eoin Reilly could have snatched the win from the Tribesmen with his 20m free in the 75th minute of this heart-stopping encounter, but Tannian – one of eight Galway men on the line – denied the keeper, and his captain Joe Canning completed the clearance to seal Galway’s semi-final berth.

Galway had trailed by six points at half time and by seven near the end of the third quarter, but they did well to carve out victory against a spirited Laois side excellently marshalled by manager Seamus “Cheddar” Plunkett.

“You look at that last shot, if it went in it probably would have won the game for us, that’s how close it was,” said Plunkett.

Galway manager Anthony Cunningham will be happy his side managed to turn possible catastrophe into victory, but it was only when Jason Flynn was sprung from the bench that Galway looked like a championship team.

Unanswered points Flynn arrived with Galway six points behind, and he split the posts twice in three minutes in a run of six unanswered Galway points which levelled the game.

“That was a tough day,” said Cunningham. “I’d have to say that the sharpness of Laois was very, very evident there.

“We got off to a good start, got some good scores, 1-3 there early on, but Laois are a very, very good team, and I think the hurling public have to acknowledge that. But let’s be honest, the first half performance there would be way off championship performance, but it’s something we can build on.”

Jonathan Glynn got the Tribesmen off to a flying start when he poked in a goal at Reilly’s near post in the second minute and when Johnny Coen, David Burke and Padraig Brehony added quick points, it seemed as if the Tribesmen would canter to victory.

But from the ninth minute to half-time, Galway only added another four points as Laois began to shoot the lights out. With a strong wind behind them the orders were clear: shoot on sight. Joe Fitzpatrick (two), Tom Delaney and Tommy Fitzgerald all hit points from long range as Laois pulled level at 1-3 to 0-6 by the 17th minute.

Conor Cooney was the one Galway forward that shone in the first half, and as Laois hit scores from all areas of the field to open out a 0-16 to 1-7 half-time advantage, he kept the Tribesmen in touch from placed balls and from play.

Many of the O’Moore Park faithful began to believe it might be their day when Stephen Maher, Hyland and Charlie Dwyer gave the home side a seven-point lead.

Cooney and Flynn stood tall, though, and from that juncture Galway went on to outscore Laois by 0-13 to 0-4.

The lead score fell to Paul Killeen four minutes after his arrival, before Flynn and Tannian tagged on two quick points to put Galway three points up as they held on for victory.

GALWAY: C Callanan; D Collins (0-1), R Burke, F Moore; A Harte, I Tannian (0-1), Daithi Burke; J Coen (0-1), P Brehony (0-2); C Cooney (0-7, 0-3 frees), N Burke (0-2), David Burke (0-1); C Mannion (0-1), J Canning (0-2), J Glynn (1-0). Subs: P Killeen for Harte (7-9 mins blood), D Hayes for David Burke (48 mins), J Flynn (0-3) for Mannion (51 mins), P Killeen (0-1) for Harte (64 mins), D Glennon for Glynn (70 mins).

LAOIS: E Reilly; JA Delaney, B Campion, B Stapleton (0-1); J Fitzpatrick (0-2), M Whelan, T Delaney (0-2); J Campion (0-1), J Walsh (0-1); S Maher (0-3, frees), D Palmer, C Dwyer (0-3, 0-1 sideline); N Foyle (0-3), W Hyland (0-3), T Fitzgerald (0-3). Subs: J Purcell for Foyle (56 mins), P Whelan for J Walsh (58 mins), J Brophy for Fitzgerald (60 mins), R King (0-1) for Campion (63 mins).

Referee: Cathal McAllister