THE REIGNING National Hurling League champions, Galway, looked far from their best when they were beaten much more comprehensively than the one goal margin suggests by Kilkenny in Ballinasloe yesterday.

Kilkenny's failure to impress in their first outing against Limerick, and Galway's defeat of All Ireland champions Wexford, in the same round of matches suggested that Galway were staunch favourites to continue their progress.

However, slack defending which conceded three goals in the first half left them in dire straits and a recovery - no matter how well it was fought for - eluded them.

What can be said of Kilkenny's captain D J Carey? What more can he do to join those great players like Ring, Mackey, Power and his fellow Kilkenny man Keher?

The only questions asked yesterday were about the total he would score and which was his best position.

After he had finally totted up 2-9, nobody, not even team manager Nicky Brennan, was quite prepared to say where he had actually played.

He wore number 14 but it could have been any number, certainly all the central positions, and this was reflected in the fact that he scored two goals and seven points from play. This was truly prodigious.

The Galway dressing room door remained firmly closed for a considerable time after the finish. This suggested that Cyril Farrell was far from pleased with his team's performance and who could blame him?

Very slack defending presented Kilkenny with a myriad of chances in the first half and were it not for the vigilance of goalkeeper Pat Costelloe, matters would have been much more serious at the break.

At that stage, Galway had made a Trojan effort to get back into the game and, with the wind behind them, were only a point behind (3-2 to 1-7) at the break.

Sporadic Galway efforts continued to give their supporters in a 6,000 crowd some hope in the second half. However poor stick work, bad handling, an all round sluggishness and the concession of frees which were gobbled up by Carey suggested that they were not capable of taking the game.

Kilkenny struck their first serious blow in the fifth minute when Dan O'Neill, Carey and Denis Byrne combined to get their first goal.

Galway continued to poke and prod but Carey left Nigel Shaughnessy groping for fresh air in the seventh minute to grab Kilkenny's second goal.

Galway managed to lift the pace to get within a point by the 20th minute but a brilliant move featuring David Beirne, Adrian Ronan, Brian McEvoy and Carey produced a third goal for Kilkenny to give the visitors a five point lead.

Galway fought back and when Kevin Broderick swept the ball across the Kilkenny goal after 26 minutes, Joe Cooney drove it home to cut the lead to a respectable 3-2 to 1-5.

This was followed by a point from Justin Campbell and Galway might have had a goal were it not for the vigilance of Joe Dermody in the Kilkenny net. Things did not look too bad when Rory Gantley brought the home side within a point of the rivals at the break.

Six points by Carey (four from frees), with a solitary reply by Liam Burke, set the pattern for the second half. Splendid saves by Joe Dermody denied Galway the goal they needed and by the end, even if there was but one goal in it, there was clear evidence that Kilkenny were the better team.

Their manager, Nicky Brennan, was pleased with the result yet admitted the National League was not his priority.

"We have a lot of work to do and, with all due respects to the league, what we really want is championship success," he said.

If Carey avoids injury and if goalkeeper Joe Dermody, Pat O'Neill (back at his best position at centre back), left corner defender Willie O'Connor and Brian McEvoy, in attack can reproduce this form regularly, Brennan might become interested in the league even yet.

Galway will look forward to the availability of their Athenry players but a slack marking defence which gave away three "soft" goals will have to be looked at seriously if they are to realise their hopes.