HENRY’S GLAD OF THE SILVER
0-23 0-15
Allianz NHL Division 1A
BRENDAN FURLONG
BY
THIS was all about laying down an early marker and it was Galway who outclassed Wexford through the second 35 minutes to gain a comfortable victory in this Allianz Division 1A and Walsh Cup final at Chadwicks Wexford Park on Saturday.
The sides will meet again in the opening round of the championship.
Beating Wexford on home soil is a real fillip to manager Henry Shefflin.
Shefflin (right) said: “Two points in the league were a priority but it was also nice to get a piece of silverware.
“We have injuries but will be hoping to see everyone in the league.
“Daithi (Burke) is the most serious, but we hope to have everyone available.”
Galway made a clear statement in this game, but Shefflin is taking it a game at a time.
“We had a number of player out there this evening and while we may have struggled in the opening half, the second 35 minutes was quite pleasing.
“We managed to up our game and move the ball at pace.
“We picked off some fine scores, did some fine hurling, and could have had a couple of goals.”
Wexford will be very disappointed with their second-half display, managing just two points from open play, while having to wait until the 46th minute for their opening second half score, a Conor Mcdonald pointed free.
Next Sunday, Wexford travel to Westmeath looking for their opening points of the campaign.
Manager Darragh Egan looked at his side’s failure to capitalise on their first half possession when assisted by the breeze.
“I’d say the lads lost a bit of heart going in at half-time that it was a drawn game and we had owned the ball for the first half.
“And you can’t do that. If you concede ten points in a row at this level you are going to be hurt badly and it did hurt us badly in the second half.” Looking ahead to Westmeath, Egan said:
“We will go really hard at it in Mullingar. “Then we have Clare at home here two weeks later, and hopefully over the next few weeks our fortunes will change.”
The sides were evenly matched on the scoreboard through the opening period, but in the second half Galway totally dominated and outscored the home side.
Both sides were down a number of regulars, but it was the Galway newcomers who left an imprint on this game, particularly through the second 35 minutes,, and their winning margin would have been greater had they availed of their goalscoring opportunities.
WEXFORD: M Fanning; S Reck, L Ryan (0-1), C Devitt; C Foey, D Reck (0-2, 1f), S Donohoe (0-1); D O’keeffe, K Foley (0-1); C Hearne, L Og Mcgovern, C Mcguckin (0-3); C Dunbar (0-2), C Mcdonald (0-4, fs), M Dwyer (0-1). SUBS: C Byrne Dunbar for Mcgovern (50), J Doran for K Foley (54), R Higgins for Dwyer (54), C Flood for Hearne (61), D Clarke for S Reck (66).
GALWAY: E Murphy; J Grealish, G Mcinerney, D Morrissey (0-1); E Lawless, P Mannion, TJ Brennan; T Killeen (0-1), S Linnane (0-1); T Monaghan (0-1), C Whelan (0-2), D O’shea (0-1); J Mannion (0-1), E Niland (0-10, 8f, 2 65s), J Flynn (0-1). SUBS: O Salmon for Brennan; R Murphy (0-1) for Killen, B Concannon (0-1) for J Mannion (all ht), L Collins (0-2) for O’shea (60), J Fitzpatrick for Mcinerney (67).
J Keenan (Wicklow).