Glittering Galway run rings around Tipperary to claim title

Galway 3-21 Tipperary 0-14

For the third year in a row, the Allianz Hurling League goes to a team from Division 1B. For the first time since 2010, Galway are that team, putting Tipperary to the sword with extreme prejudice at the Gaelic Grounds. Whatever way you called this league final, you didn’t call it this way.

Galway turned Tipperary into traffic cones here, zipping in and out of them and all around them to run out 16-point winners. Bravura performances from Jason Flynn, Conor Whelan and Joe Canning up front cashed in on a dominant display by their half-back line to pummel the All-Ireland champions from start to finish.

Flynn banged home two second-half goals, with Cathal Mannion adding another when the game was long over. Whelan chipped over five points from play, Canning led from the front all through. By the end, the only reason it was 16 points was that Galway didn't make it more.

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“We know Galway have been inconsistent,” said Galway manager Micheál Donoghue afterwards. “It’s been levelled at us by certain media and to be honest, we’re totally comfortable with that. We know we’re inconsistent. But the only way out of that is to work hard and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“The fact that we’ve won it now, my message isn’t going to change. What we wanted from the league was to stay in it as close to the Dublin game as possible. We wanted competitive games and it’s all about Dublin on May 28th now. It’s been a long trek for the lads and they deserve that.

“It’s one step at a time. If you go back to the Wexford game, these players got absolutely lacerated in Galway. We knew there were a couple of things we weren’t happy with but we kept working hard. Now it’s all about Dublin on May 28th.”

Tipp were so off-colour in the first half that it was actually an indictment of Galway’s finishing that the All-Ireland champions were able to stay in the game. In their much-vaunted full-forward line, John O’Dwyer and Noel McGrath barely got the ball in their hand and John McGrath’s main contribution came in the form of four missed frees in the opening half-hour alone.

The Galway half-back line were in murderous form, consigning Steven O'Brien to the bench before the break. Michael Ryan picked O'Brien, Michael Breen and Dan McCormack in the half-forward line and however he saw the game panning out beforehand, he surely wouldn't have imagined that trio getting bullied around the place. But that's what happened and Tipp could get no foothold in the game as a result.

Had Galway been able to shoot straight, they’d have been out the gap with plenty to spare. They pucked 11 wides in the first half alone, dropped three balls into Darren Gleeson’s hand and missed two goal chances. Well, one-and-a-half – Conor Whelan had them both and while Gleeson did well to save the second one, the first was flashed over the bar before he or Whelan had time to set his feet.

Whelan was in sparkling form all the same and was giving Cathal Barrett a torrid time. Between him and Joe Canning, Galway gradually built a score. Canning had six points on the board by the break, Whelan another three. At the other end, Tipp had only managed a single score from play. It all added up to a scoreline of 0-11 to 0-5 heading into the second half.

If there was doubt – and there had to be, given Tipp's ability to rattle off quickfire scores at will – it was extinguished upon the restart. Mickey Cahill only had to slightly miscontrol the ball 20 metres out and Flynn had nipped in to take full advantage. His finish high past Gleeson's left shoulder brooked no argument.

From there to the end, it was an accounting matter. Whelan and Flynn kept torturing the Tipp corner-backs – Whelan jinked around Barrett for a point from the sideline on 49 minutes, Flynn scorched Cahill for another goal soon after. At the next break in play, Cahill was called ashore.

The rest of them could count themselves lucky that Ryan couldn’t replace them all. An odd day for Tipp, a rousing one for Galway. Where everyone stands going into the summer now is entirely up for grabs.

GALWAY: 1 C Callanan; 2 A Tuohy, 3 Daithi Burke, 4 P Killeen; 5 P Mannion, 6 G McInerney, 7 A Harte (0-2); 9 David Burke (capt; 0-1), 8 J Coen (0-1); 14 C Mannion (1-1), 11 J Canning (0-9, two 65s, three frees), 12 J Cooney; 10 J Flynn (2-1), 24 N Burke, 13 C Whelan (0-5).

Subs: 21 J Glynn for Canning (63 mins), 17 J Hanbury for Daithi Burke (67 mins), 15 C Donnellan for N Burke (68 mins), 25 T Monaghan (0-1) for Flynn (70 mins), 19 S Loftus for Killeen (71 mins).

TIPPERARY: 1 D Gleeson; 2 C Barrett, 3 J Barry, 4 M Cahill; 5 S Kennedy, 6 R Maher (0-2, frees), 7 P Maher (capt); 8 B Maher (0-1), 9 J Forde; 10 D McCormack, 11 M Breen (0-2), 12 S O'Brien; 13 N McGrath (0-2), 14 J O'Dwyer (0-1, free), 15 J McGrath (0-6, five frees). 25.

Subs: N O'Meara for O'Brien (32mins), 22 Patrick Maher for O'Dwyer (46 mins), 20 T Hamill for Cahill (60 mins), 19 P Flynn for Forde (60 mins), 26 D Quinn for N McGrath (67 mins).

Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).