Galway 1-13 Monaghan 0-10
Shane Walsh made his first appearance of 2023 off the bench for Galway as they moved through the gears to see off a wasteful Monaghan side despite being down to 14 men for half the match at Pearse Stadium.
Monaghan only managed two pointed frees from goalkeeper Rory Beggan against the breeze in the second half and they shot eight wides in that time as well despite having an extra man after Galway’s Peter Cooke was sent off.
“The second half just wasn’t good enough,” said Monaghan manager Vinny Corey.
“We knew the second half was going to be difficult because the wind was picking up all the time. But we did have a spare man to help balance that out.”
The sides were level six times in the opening half in front of 5,275 at the Salthill venue but Monaghan, who kept plenty of men behind the ball before going forward in surges, finished the half strongly with Cillian Lavelle, Dessie Ward, Michael Bannigan and Beggan’s second point helping them lead 0-8 to 0-7 at the interval.
Galway lost Peter Cooke at the end of the half, moments after he had kicked a good point, when he retaliated after Bannigan tangled with him on the ground and referee Conor Lane issued a red card, a decision which Galway manager Padraic Joyce said afterwards he had no issue with even if there was two players involved in the incident.
Joyce, who had to make a couple of late changes after corner-back Jack Glynn and full-forward Ian Burke suffered groin injuries in the warm-up, brought Walsh on seven minutes after the restart after Beggan had extended Monaghan’s lead with another free.
Walsh, who returned from a break in Australia last Sunday after helping Kilmacud Crokes to win the All-Ireland club title, showed plenty of deft touches and manager Joyce admitted to being surprised how sharp the All Star was after spending several weeks on holiday in Australia.
“He came back last week, he’s in better shape than we thought going back so we’d no choice but to get a bit of game time into him,” said Joyce.
“He didn’t set the world on fire, don’t get me wrong, but it’s great to have him back and have his presence back around the dressing room. His influence on the lads is great as well.”
Galway dominated despite being down to 14 men with Sean Kelly and Johnny Heaney sending goal chances over the bar and John Daly going forward from defence to score and take a 0-10 to 0-9 lead into the final quarter.
Beggan’s fourth point tied the match but Monaghan didn’t score for the closing 18 minutes and Heaney, after being set up by Cathal Sweeney after Beggan and his defence failed to deal with a high ball from Paul Conroy, drilled home the only goal seven minutes from time to seal a second win of the campaign for the Tribesmen.
Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, E Kelly, S Kelly (0-1); D McHugh, J Daly (0-1), D O’Flaherty; P Conroy (0-3, 2f), M Tierney (0-3, 2f); Paul Kelly, P Cooke (0-1), C Sweeney; R Finnerty (0-3), Patrick Kelly, J Heaney (1-1). Subs: S Walsh for Patrick Kelly (42), J Maher for O’Flaherty (64), C Hernon for Sweeney (71).
Monaghan: R Beggan (0-4f); T McPhillips, K Duffy, R Wylie; C Boyle, D Ward (0-1), R O’Toole; D Hughes, C Lavelle (0-1); S O’Hanlon, M Bannigan (0-1), C McCarthy (0-1f); S Jones (0-2), K Gallagher, F Kelly. Subs: Subs: S Carey for Kelly (half-time), C McManus for Jones (47), K Hughes for Gallagher (65), C Lennon for D Hughes (74).
Referee: Conor Lane (Cork).
