Tipperary bossed and bullied as Galway take hurling league title

Galway 3-21 Tipperary 0-14

Tipperary bossed and bullied as Galway take hurling league title

Galway 3-21 Tipperary 0-14

This was Galway at their brilliant best. Frighteningly good were Micheál Donoghue’s men, writes Eoghan Cormican.

Not since the 2012 Leinster final dismantling of Kilkenny have Galway put together such a devastating display.

And just as they were rewarded with the Bob O’Keeffe Cup on that occasion, there was silverware to be collected at the end of this 16-point hammering of the All-Ireland champions – the westerners bridging a seven-year gap to their last league success.

Granted, Tipperary were without Seamus Callanan and although Patrick ‘Bonnar’ Maher was introduced as a second-half sub, he has very little hurling done.

Still, there can be no discussion about Tipperary being off-colour. They were bossed and bullied from the first whistle to last, with their starting six forwards returning just six points from play.

There was the sight of Conor Whelan forcing Seamus Kennedy to over-carry possession on the stand sideline, there was John McGrath spilling the sliotar out over the end line after a hefty Daithí Burke challenge and then there was the brilliance of Jason Flynn when leaving Michael Cahill for dead and speeding past James Barry en-route to Galway’s second goal on 56 minutes.

That put them 2-17 to 0-11 clear and effectively killed the game as a contest. Flynn had provided their opening major when blasting the sliotar to the roof of Darran Gleeson’s net within a minute of the second-half. That first goal sent them into a 1-11 to 0-6 lead and from there, they never looked back.

Cathal Mannion applied the icing on the cake when raising a third green flag four minutes from time.

The winners were full value for their 0-11 to 0-5 interval advantage and could have been further ahead but for 11 wides. A large portion of them was of the soft variety and there was even a Jason Flynn goal chance which Darren Gleeson did very well to save.

Their scoreboard dominance stemmed predominantly from Galway’s superiority in defence and around the middle. David Burke got through a significant amount of possession while behind him there wasn’t a single Galway player who wasn’t winning their individual battle.

Daithí Burke had Noel McGrath’s number before the latter was eventually moved elsewhere. Adrian Tuohy held John McGrath who was plagued by his dead-ball inaccuracies – the 22-year old missed two ‘65’s and a free in the opening half, as well as miscuing a sideline cut.

Noel McGrath struck their first point from play on 16 minutes to tie up proceedings at 0-3 apiece.

It was the last occasion, mind, where there was parity on the scoreboard. Indeed, McGrath was the sole Tipperary forward to score from play in the opening half and in the closing 20 minutes of the first period, the All-Ireland champions were outscored 0-8 to 0-2.

Galway’s eight points were provided by Joe Canning (0-6, 0-2 ‘65’s and 0-1 free) and Conor Whelan (0-2). This pair finished with 0-14 between them.

Can Galway back it up in the championship is now the question.

Their quest for a first Liam MacCarthy since 1988 begins on the final weekend of May against Dublin. Tipperary are out a week prior to that against Cork.

They have a bit of soul searching to do before then.

Scorers for Galway: J Canning (0-9, 0-3 frees, 0-2 ‘65’s); J Flynn (2-1); C Whelan (0-5); C Mannion (1-1); A Harte (0-2); T Monaghan, J Coen, David Burke (0-1 each).

Scorers for Tipperary: J McGrath (0-6, 0-5 frees); R Maher (0-2 frees), M Breen, N McGrath (0-2 each); B Maher, J O’Dwyer (0-1 each).

Tipperary: D Gleeson; C Barrett, J Barry, M Cahill; S Kennedy, R Maher, Pádraic Maher; B Maher, J Forde; D McCormack, M Breen, S O’Brien; J McGrath, N McGrath, J O’Dwyer.

Subs: N O’Meara for O’Brien (32 mins); Patrick Maher for J O’Dwyer; T Hamill for Cahill, P Flynn for Forde (both 60); D Quinn for N McGrath (66)

Galway: C Callanan; A Tuohy, Daithí Burke, P Killeen; P Mannion, G McInerney, A Harte; J Coen, David Burke; C Mannion, J Canning, J Cooney; J Flynn, N Burke, C Whelan.

Subs: J Glynn for Canning (61); J Hanbury for Daithí Burke (67); C Donnellan for N Burke (68); T Monaghan for Flynn (69); S Loftus for Killeen (70).

Referee: C Lyons (Cork).

Meanwhile, there were wins for Meath and Laois in the first round of group games in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship today.

Meath defeated Kerry by 3-20 to 2-17, while Laois overcame a late Westmeath fightback to win by 1-23 to 2-17.

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