NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION ONE: Tipperary 1-17 Galway 1-15: AS NEWS reached Salthill of the special welcome Kilkenny gave the Cork hurlers yesterday afternoon, supporters from both counties here must have wondered at the wisdom of winning this match.
As it happened, this one went down to the wire. Galway flittered away what had looked like a commanding position but almost sneaked through with a late goal.
First, Joe Canning completed a frustrating afternoon when his first-time strike was stopped by Tipperary’s debut goalkeeper Darren Gleeson, then Brendan Maher batted a last-gasp Joe Gantley strike off the line.
Thus Tipperary advanced to defend the title they won in such exhilarating fashion against maroon opposition last year. Trouble is, this time they have to meet a black and amber squad that seems stuck in a turbo-boosted fifth gear.
“The more often we can play them, the more often we can learn,” reasoned manager Liam Sheedy afterwards, looking undaunted at the memory of the 17-point defeat Kilkenny meted out in Nowlan Park last month. “Look, it is a national title. There are only two of them up for grabs. Why wouldn’t we want a crack at them?”
Tipperary were good value for their win here. They coped with the loss of resident centre back Conor O’Mahony – the third of the Tipp panel to be struck down with mumps.
Pauric Maher was the late replacement and hurled prominently in a notably tight defensive effort, the highlight of which was a classy display from Shane Maher. In recognition of the alarming goal-leak in recent games, Tipperary replaced the venerable Brendan Cummins with Darren Gleeson. The Portroe man took the scenic route to making his debut in Premier colours, but, as a shot-stopper, he looked the part here, cancelling decent chances on Cyril Donnellan and Niall Healy before his critical save from Canning.
His one mistake lay in a half-blocked clearance that led to a point for Kevin Hynes.
The Sarsfields man was Galway’s top scorer from play, hitting five points from minimal fuss. He only entered the game after a completely unannounced, 24th-minute row. It was completely out of kilter with the sleepy opening period. It originated from a hard shoulder from Paul Curran on Joe Canning and ended up with several men tumbling over the advertising hoarding in front of the stand.
The verdict was yellow cards for Curran and Galway midfielder Eoin Lynch.
Galway did better out of these punishments: Curran had started well on Canning and Hynes, it transpired, was the one Galway man with an eye for a score on this day.
Declan Fanning replaced Curran and he too kept a tight eye on Galway’s young talisman. Canning failed to land a score from play and only once had the opportunity to cut loose, setting up Donnellan’s goal chance with a glorious hand pass over the top of the Tipperary back line.
Still, Galway hit 1-04 without replay after half-time, the goal coming courtesy of a Niall Healy follow up on Hayes’s original effort. Up 1-10 to 0-8, with just over 20 minutes left, the match looked perfectly set for the home team to finish on a high note.
But resilience has been Tipperary’s chief asset under Sheedy. They showed plenty of it again in the vital minutes of the match.
Séamus Callanan, prolific all day, came up with a tough, well-taken point from play that kept the side in touch, and then added two frees. The teams traded scores, and then Damien Joyce found himself under pressure from Lar Corbett and coughed up the sliotar in front of goal. Corbett has scored more dashing goals in his career, but although this one just trickled over the line – the umpire actually waited a few seconds before making up his mind to wave the green flag – it counted just as well.
And with their noses in front, Tipperary pushed on, growing in stature as the old doubts and small, fatal errors crept into the Galway game.
The one flaw in the manner of their victory was the red card flashed to Eamon Buckley for striking Canning as he bustled across the goal mouth during the frantic, injury-time exchanges.
“Maybe Tipperary’s year was on the line when they went five points down,” said John McIntyre. “In fairness, they showed what they are made of. They probably had more composure than we had coming from their great run last year. But I felt our lads battled hard.”
Galway had isolated pockets of excellence – Ollie Canning, Fergal Moore and Eugene McEntee won most of their battles and Joyce’s day was ruined by that one critical mistake. Andy Smith caught the eye in open play, and even on a subdued day like this Joe Canning is a magnet to defenders. But there were ominous signs here that the Portumna lad looks hurled out.
Overall, it was a hesitant display. In the first 10 minutes, goalkeeper Colm Callanan had registered one point – a monster free from 90 yards – and two wides in a curiously flat opening.
It was a tight, scrappy first 25 minutes – the score was 0-5 to 0-3 when the unlikely bust-up occurred and Tipperary might have had a goal just before half-time, with Callanan blocking an attempt by Corbett.
The big disappointment for the home support was that the team went into retreat instead of galloping on from their brightest period after half-time.
As individual hurlers, they are working like demons, but the old anxieties are still in evidence and it remains to be seen if McIntyre can assemble the kind of cohesive, driven and self-assured team that has eluded their best efforts in time for the championship.
“In fairness to Galway, you couldn’t say anyone was better than anyone else,” said Sheedy. “A draw would have been a fair result. But what a flick by Brendan Maher there in the last minute – when it went across the square, I thought it was gone in. Backs to the wall stuff! But we got there.”
TIPPERARY:D Gleeson; E Buckley, P Curran, C O'Brien; P Stapleton, Pauric Maher, S Maher; J Woodlock (0-1), S McGrath; Patrick Maher, S Callanan (0-11, 7f, 1 65), L Corbett (1-2); T Scroope (0-1), M Webster, J O'Brien. Substitutes: D Fanning for Curran (booked 24 mins), N McGrath (0-1) for Webster (half-time), S Hennessy (0-1) for P Maher (43 mins), B Dunne for O'Brien (50 mins), G Ryan for Woodlock (63 mins booked), B Maher for T Scroope (67 mins).
GALWAY:C Callanan (0-1); D Joyce, E McEntee, O Canning; R Murray, M Ryan, F Moore; A Cullinane, E Lynch; A Smith (0-1), C Donnellan, A Callanan (0-1); N Hayes (0-1), J Canning (0-5, 3f, 1 65), N Healy (1-1). Substitutes: K Hynes (0-5) for E Lynch (booked 24 min), F Healy for N Hayes (62 mins), J Gantley for N Healy (66 mins).
Referee:B Kenny (Westmeath).
