Cloonan shoots Galway into semi-final

Galway 4-23 Derry 1-11

Galway breezed past Derry in this afternoon’s first hurling All-Ireland quarter final at Croke Park, beating the Ulster champions by 21 points.

In an embarrassingly one-sided contest, Galway cruised to the semi-final stage where, depending on the outcome of Limerick v Wexford, they will face either Kilkenny or Tipperary.

Eugene Cloonan and Kevin Broderick led the way for the Tribesmen, grabbing the lions share of scores, but it was all too easy for much of the match. It took Galway less than three minutes to unlock a static Derry defence, Cloonan making the space for himself in front of goal and making no mistake with the shot.

Derry conceded a second goal in the 15th minute and effectively their All-Ireland prospects came to an end. Broderick was the scorer on this occasion, some smart set-up play from Alan Kerins being gratefully converted by the half-forward.

Derry tried to impose themselves on the match and for a brief period either side of half-time showed some resistance. Gregory Biggs gave glimpses of a real talent and bustling full-forward Geoffrey McGonigle battled up front.

The Ulster team began snapping up the few opportunities that fell their way and when Healy dragged McGonigle to the floor just after half-time Derry were awarded a penalty. Ollie Collins punished Galway and gave his team a glimmer of hope but Galway simply upped the tempo and moved out of sight.

Cloonan took his tally to 2-10 points and Broderick netted a superb effort as Galway swept to a total of 4-19 and a semi-final berth.