NHL: Division 1A Galway 2-18 Waterford 0-16
Waterford manager Peter Queally said he was at a loss to fathom how his team failed to raise a gallop in what was a key relegation clash in difficult conditions at Pearse Stadium.
It may have been the first day of spring but this was winter hurling in the wind and rain and while Galway mastered the conditions somewhat better, Waterford failed to repeat the tempo they showed when going down in Kilkenny last weekend.
“I can’t explain it,” admitted Queally. “Probably a couple of sleepless nights and watching back videos and probably a few heart-to-hearts with some of the players, and see can we sort it out now. It is a big seven days for us. We have a massive game at home to Tipperary next week we need to get right for.
“Very disappointing, no point in glossing over it or saying any otherwise. Obviously the result was big, but the performance was very disappointing.
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“We are not looking at any tables or head-to-heads. All we are looking at is getting ourselves right for next Sunday; a home game in Walsh Park against the All-Ireland champions.
“Historically we have been good at putting bad results and poor performances behind us and turning around the following week, so we are going to have to tap into that during the week.”
He said an early injury to centre-back Iarlaith Daly, which led to his withdrawal at the interval, did little to help their cause. They were in big trouble when they trailed by 2-11 to 0-11 at the break, having played with the wind in Salthill.
Waterford started well and led by 0-6 to 1-2 after 11 minutes and looked set to build a decent lead despite a sluggish first touch.
But Galway, boosted by a goal from wing-back Ronan Glennon in the third minute after good approach work by Pádraic Mannion and Jason Rabbitte, took over and hit 1-7 without reply from the 12th to the 28th minute.
Cathal Mannion led the way, hitting four frees and two from play despite a couple of missed efforts from placed balls, while brother Pádraic, playing his 120th game for Galway, manned the central defensive position with authority.
Cianan Fahy was full of running in midfield and, with Aaron Niland picking off three points from play, Galway pulled away. Colm Molloy finished to the net after being set up by Cathal Mannion and Tiernan Killeen.
Waterford managed to rally as they approached half-time trailing 2-9 to 0-6.
Goalkeeper Billy Nolan landed a free from 85 metres and Stephen Bennett added to his three frees to help reduce the margin but they went in at the break six points down and having to face the wind after the restart.
Waterford, despite the introduction of Tadhg de Burca for his first action of the year, failed to make inroads into the deficit and Galway extended their advantage to eight points by the 42nd minute, with Fahy and Cian Daniels dominating midfield.
Galway’s margin of victory would have been much greater had Waterford goalkeeper Nolan not produced some fine saves to deny Fahy. He later saved a penalty from Niland after the Galway man was fouled by Waterford captain Mark Fitzgerald, who was shown a black card.
Galway led by 2-16 to 0-14 after 48 minutes but, remarkably, both sides managed to score just two points each from there to the end as the game petered out to an inevitable conclusion with neither team scoring in the closing 13 minutes.
Galway manager Micheál Donoghue appreciated the value of the win.
“Every game you play in this division is really tough,” he said. “My main objective was to get two points in a home game, so I’m happy to have got them.
“I thought the first half, once we got into it, and on their puck-out also, once we started dominating them, I think that gave us the platform to go on. In the first half, I thought we got some good scores, had a nice cushion at half-time, and that gave us the platform.
“Similar to last week, I’d be a small bit disappointed with our second-half performance, but I suppose it’s a team transition with a lot of young fellas, so the key thing for us is just to keep building our consistency and get that performance that we’re craving for 70 minutes,” added Donoghue.
Galway: S O’Halloran; J Ryan, C Trayers, K Hanrahan; D Morrissey, P Mannion, R Glennon (1-0); C Fahy, C Daniels (0-2); T Monaghan (0-2), C Mannion (0-9, 0-6f, 0-1 ’65), T Killeen; J Rabbitte (0-1), C Molloy (1-0), A Niland (0-4, 0-1f). Subs: C Whelan for Molloy (51), C Killeen for Fahy (54), TJ Brennan for Glennon (60), D McLaughlin for Rabbitte (63), C Cooney for Niland (66).
Waterford: B Nolan (0-1f); J O’Neill, M Fitzgerald, I Kenny; P Leavy, I Daly (0-1), Shane Bennett; B Lynch, J Prendergast (0-2); Stephen Bennett (0-8, 0-7f), R Waldron, J Barron (0-1); K Mahony, S Walsh (0-2), M Kiely (0-1). Subs: P Curran for Mahony (half-time), C Lyons for Daly (half-time), S Mackey for Waldron (43), T de Burca for Shane Bennett (48), J Fagan (De La Salle) for Kiely (65).
Referee: James Owens (Wexford).
