Shefflin’s Galway lay down a significant early -season marker

Limerick 1-18 Galway 0-27

Trophies aren’t handed out in mid-February, that’s for sure, but with the Championship only two months away this year’s Allianz Hurling League is all about making statements.

And that is exactly what Henry Shefflin’s Tribesmen did at the TUS Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening, albeit boosted by the 39th minute dismissal of Gearóid Hegarty.

Seven late points in a row ensured Galway left Shannonside heartened, and it is the nature of this six-point victory that will please Shefflin the most as a true display of grit and determination saw the visitors eventually make their numerical advantage count.

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The Treaty County now remain without a win in the Allianz Hurling League as Galway double-scored 14n-man Limerick, by 10 points to five, in the final quarter to remain at the top of the Division One Group A table.

Top-scoring with 10 points, it was Conor Cooney who shone bright for Galway, with the pick of the scores being a Fintan Burke sideline puck from inside his own half after 25 minutes.

The straight red card shown to Hegarty for a strike on Joseph Cooney early in the second half was the game’s turning point, the half-forward the only player to be reprimanded by referee Fergal Horgan after a sizeable melee broke out in front of a full capacity Mackey Stand.

Following the sending off, Limerick scored a further nine points while Galway added another 17 points to their tally to run out 0-27 to 1-18 winners as the All-Ireland champions failed to register a score in the final 10 minutes after Tom Morrissey put his side ahead in the 60th minute.

But one swallow doesn't make a summer and John Kiely is confident his side will continue to improve week by week ahead of the Championship.

“It was a great game of hurling . . . for four-fifths of it maybe,” he said. “From our perspective, it was a much improved performance on last week – that’s what we were looking for”.

“The lads worked really, really hard, we used the ball much better, and we created scoring chances much easier than we did last week. Our accuracy was much better, but the last quarter was disappointing from our perspective. We just couldn’t maintain the accuracy. We tried hard to get on the ball, but we struggled to maintain possession. When the opposition have an extra man, if they are good at using the ball, they’ll mind the ball that bit easier.”

“I am disappointed with the last 10 to 15 minutes, but up to that point I am satisfied.”

The melee

The Limerick manager says it was “regrettable” from his team’s point of view that Hegarty became involved in the melee, but says his focus is preparing his side for their Munster Championship opener against Cork in April.

“The melee was a pity, there wasn’t really any need for it. There were so many bodies inside in there that it was what it was. Somebody was bound to get a bang if there were that many fellas inside there. It is regrettable. It is a pity for Gearóid as he is going to miss the next match, but we’ll drive on.

“Championship is only eight weeks away and we are after playing the second round of the league so we cannot take our eyes off the fact that that’s when it is all going to matter.”

Limerick had opened with two wides – a Gillane effort from play and a Diarmaid Byrnes free – before a Gillane goal and a Cathal O'Neill point sent the invigorated Shannonsiders 1-1 to no score ahead inside six minutes.

Gillane made up for his earlier miss, jumping high to catch a superb long pass from Hayes before turning his marker to blast the ball past Éanna Murphy to open the scoring after just four minutes. O’Neill tapped over a minute later to give Limerick an early four-point lead.

Limerick lost William O’Donoghue to injury at this point and weren’t to score again for 13 minutes.

The next five scores came from the Tribesmen with Cathal Mannion, Conor Cooney (two frees) and Jack Hastings bridging the gap after 15 minutes. A quick Cooney double, a free and a point from play, had Galway ahead by the 16th minute with Shefflin's charges leading by 0-5 to 1-1.

However, a minute later, Gillane – returning to the side for the first time since the All-Ireland final last August – had the sides level for the second time, ending Limerick’s barren spell with a well-taken free from out wide.

Despite some poor first-half shooting that resulted in five wides, Limerick wrestled a 1-9 to 0-10 interval advantage. Both sides were level four times in the first half before two late frees from the impressive Gillane gave his side a two-point lead at the break.

Red card

However, it was Hegarty’s red card, just four minutes after the restart, that proved to be the defining moment as Galway outscored the All-Ireland champions by 12 points to seven in the final half-hour in a game where both sides were level on 12 separate occasions.

After Hegarty’s red, Galway took the lead for only their second time when Conor Cooney slotted over his fifth free. Shefflin’s men never looked back from here on in.

In fact, they outscored Limerick, by 10 points to five, in the 15 minutes as Limerick’s wide count of 11 came back to haunt them.

However, with it taking until Round 4 of last year’s League campaign for John Kiely’s men to record their first win of the season, following an open day draw against Tipperary and back-to-back defeats to Galway and Waterford, even the most pessimistic of Limerick supporters would be foolish to read too much into these early season losses.

Galway, however, will be very much boosted by back-to-back wins and the early season new lease of life Shefflin has brought to some of the Tribesmen’s more experienced players.

LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Seán Finn, Dan Morrissey, Richie English; Diarmaid Byrnes (0-2, two frees), Barry Nash (0-1), Kyle Hayes; Brian O'Grady, William O'Donoghue; Gearóid Hegarty (0-1), Cathal O'Neill (0-4), Darragh O'Donovan; Aaron Gillane (1-6, five frees), Séamus Flanagan (0-2), David Reidy.

Subs: Ronan Connolly (0-1) for O'Donoghue (6 mins, inj), Tom Morrissey (0-1) for O'Grady (h-t), Declan Hannon for Connolly (50), Graeme Mulcahy for Reidy (65), Adan English for Flanagan (66).

GALWAY: Éanna Murphy; Jack Grealish, Daithí Burke (capt), Jack Fitzpatrick; Gearóid McInerney, Pádraic Mannion, Fintan Burke (0-4, two sidelines); Joseph Cooney (0-2), Ronan Glennon (0-2), Tom Monaghan (0-1), Jack Hastings (0-1), Conor Cooney (0-10, eight frees); Éanna Burke, Conor Whelan (0-1), Cathal Mannion (0-4)

Subs: Gavin Lee for Éanna Burke (48 minutes), Darren Morrissey for Fitzpatrick (56), David Burke for Grealish (59), Cianan Fahy for Hastings (65 ), Johnny Coen (0-2) for Glennon (67).

Referee: Fergal Horgan (Tipperary).