WATERFORD STAGE A COMEBACK WHILE OFFALY COLLAPSE
A GOAL from Shane Bennett in the fifth minute of injury time gave Waterford a dramatic two-point victory over Galway at Walsh Park. Páraic Fanning’s home side trailed by 10 points at the break having endured the terrible weather in the opening half. But Waterford completely dominated after the interval, clawing back the deficit and finishing with Bennett’s late match-winning goal. Galway had the benefit of the elements in the opening half with exchanges close in opening minutes. A goal in the 11th minute, when Jason Flynn slipped his marker to race clear and shoot low past Stephen O’Keeffe put Galway in the driving seat, 1-4 to 0-5. Conditions continued to deteriorate as Galway dominated. Five points in a row from Jason Flynn and a pair each from Joe Canning and Conor Whelan put the Tribesmen six up on the halfhour mark. Then Joe Canning drove through the heart of the Waterford defence before feeding Brian Concannon who rifled a superb shot to the top corner of the net. Canning converted another free to send Galway into the dressing rooms with healthy a 2-11 to 0-7 lead. Now with the breeze at their backs, Waterford quickly set about reeling in their opponents. Eight points on the bounce in the opening 15 minutes cut the deficit to just two points, but they weren’t done there. Jamie Barron and Kevin Moran were both outstanding with Galway struggling to get the ball past the half-way line. Canning eventually recorded a second-half score after 55 minutes with Niall Burke and Bennett swapping points as the game headed to a tense conclusion. Bennett landed two further frees to narrow the margin to the minimum with just minutes remaining Deep in injury time, substitute Austin Gleeson drilled a pass for Peter Hogan to gain possession in front of goal. Hogan then turned his marker before finding Bennett who shook the rigging with his shot to send the local support home happy.