Galway victory increases Tipperary’s relegation worries

Galway 3-16 Tipperary 1-19

Galway recorded their first league win over Tipperary in seven years to give themselves a chance of making the knockout stages while at the same time plunging Eamon O'Shea's men into relegation trouble.

And while Galway are still not clear of making the drop, they will make the short journey to Ennis next Sunday with a lot to play for against the All-Ireland champions.

Galway had only managed two goals prior to this encounter but they had three on the board by the half-hour mark at Pearse Stadium yesterday as Tipperary’s porous defence – it has now conceded a dozen goals in the last three games – again cost them dearly.

Niall Healy, who hit 1-3 in the opening 20 minutes, blasted home the first and then the impressive Jonathan Glynn was bundled over by Paddy Stapleton before Conor Cooney stepped forward and fired the resultant penalty to the roof of the net.

Stiff wind
It got worse for Tipperary when Glynn jinked his way through before flicking the ball over goalkeeper Darren Gleeson which helped the Tribesmen lead by 3-8 to 0-9 at the interval – despite playing against the stiff wind.

"The three first-half goals were very important – they were all well-worked goals too," said Galway manager Anthony Cunningham, whose side won their opening game against Dublin before losing on the road to Waterford and Kilkenny.

“We’ve only two home matches and they make a big difference really.

“But we’ll probably have to compete better than we did for the last 20 minutes if we are going to be big contenders in the championship which we intend to be,” he said.

Tipperary switched Pádraig Maher to full-back and that tightened their rearguard but by then the damage was done.

They will take some consolation that they won the second half against the wind but were largely dependent on the accuracy of Séamus Callanan from placed balls and never looked like repeating their feat of scoring four goals on each of their last two visits to Salthill.

A third successive loss leaves them in serious relegation trouble as they prepare for their final home game against Dublin next Sunday and manager Eamon O’Shea had no problem putting his hand up to accept responsibility for the situation.

“We’re not playing well, and you have to look at the manager straightaway. You probably won’t believe me but we had a good week in training but when we come to the pitch we seem a little bit edgy, a little bit nervy.

“But that’s down to me, it has to. The lads are very disappointed. We can’t figure it out yet, but that’s my job.

Poor first-half
"That's the reality. It's not panic stations. We had a very poor first half, probably found our team better in the second half, but that performance isn't good enough," said O'Shea.

Tipperary matched Galway for scores in the second half but still trailed by eight with seven minutes left when home centre-back Iarla Tannian picked up a second yellow card. A couple of points from Callanan and then a goal from a retaken free by Drom & Inch man in the final minute set up the prospect of a late survival operation but Galway, despite not scoring for the final 10 minutes, were not to be denied a long overdue win over the Premier County.
GALWAY : C Callanan; F Moore, R Burke, D Collins; A Harte, I Tannian (0-1), Daithi Burke; J Coen (0-1), P Brehony (0-3); G McInerney, C Cooney (1-3, 1-0 penalty, 0-3 frees), David Burke (0-3, 0-1sl); C Mannion (0-1), J Glynn (1-1), N Healy (1-3). Subs: N Burke for McInerney (41 mins), J Flynn for Mannion (57 mins), D Glennon for Healy (67 mins), P Killeen for Harte (69 mins).
TIPPERARY: D Gleeson; M Cahill, P Stapleton, C Barrett; B Maher, C O'Mahony, Padraic Maher; S McGrath (0-2), J Woodlock; N McGrath (0-1), J O'Dwyer (0-2), Patrick Maher; C Kenny, S Callanan (1-11, 1-8 frees, 0-1 '65), M Heffernan (0-1). Subs: K Bergin (0-2) for Woodlock (24 mins), E Kelly for Kenny (32 mins), D Maher for N McGrath (half-time), C O'Brien for Heffernan (44 mins), P Murphy for Cahill (63 mins).
Referee: A Stapleton (Laois).