Comer is Apple of Galway eyes
DAMIEN COMER inspired Galway to a leisurely victory in the Bronx as they advanced to f ace Leitrim in the next round of the Connacht Seni o r Football Championship.
Man of the match Comer wasn’t even due to start but was parachuted into the starting 15 after a stomach bug hit the Galway panel and he responded with a 1-4 tally.
It may have been the least comprehensive of recent defeats suffered by the Exiles on home turf but it was never in doubt after Galway rode the initial New York dominance.
Former Donegal star Ross Wherity failed to beat the hamstring injury that had bothered him since the defeat to Cavan and was replaced in the starting lineup by Jason Kelly.
But the worries were greater for the Tribesmen, who lost goalkeeper Brian Donoghue as well as key forwards Michael Lundy and Patrick Sweeney to the mysterious bug.
PJ Banville led the way for New York i n the opening stages, converting two early frees as the Galway men started slower.
Comer — who replaced Sweeney — and centre- f orward Shane Walsh brought Galway back level by the 11th minute before a 20thminute point from Banville had the hosts in front again.
Comer was finally hitting his stride and his scores had the visitors in the lead and in control as the half-hour mark ticked by.
An injury to one of New York’s key men, Brian Connor, proved a further blow for the home side and Galway could have extended their lead significantly had it not been for a great point-blank save by New York keeper Gavin Joyce, whose deflection over the bar just before the break kept them in it.
Galway began the second half with a five-point advantage — 0-9 to 0-4 — before Banville was presented with another free close in that he easily pointed from the left.
However, that score only served to get a rise out of the Connacht men, who quickly countered, allowing Walsh to cut through the middle and rifle a low shot to the corner of the New York net past Joyce.
The goal was quickly followed by a fisted point from Danny Cummins in the 40th minute, a score which was followed by a prolonged period of cagey football and wayward shooting.
Banville finally got his side back to scoring ways, pointing excellently from play from the left after turning on to his right.
The brief fightback was quickly cancelled out by Galway, however, Peadar Óg Ó Griofa sending over a free from the right that made the score 1-11 to 0-6 in the visitors’ favour.
Points from captain and midfielder Paul Conroy and half-back Seán Denvir opened out the lead to 10 points but it could have been worse for New York after Keith Quinn brilliantly cleared off the line from a hand-pass sent into the small rectangle.
Denvir c onverted t he 45, however, and Ó Griofa followed up with another score as the spirits of the home team flagged.
It was well over as a contest when Comer punched home the second goal of the day after a fine move down the right and the game petered out from there, with Galway coasting their way to their 16point victory.
THE failure to eradicate cynical play is threatening the remarkable progress of Tipperary football, according to the county’s football board chairman Joe Hannigan. Following the Premier County’s agonising one-point defeat to Tyrone in Saturday night’s All-Ireland Under 21 FC final, Hannigan took to the airwaves to criticise the performance of the referee and the behaviour of the Ulster team. Hannigan accused Tyrone of time wasting and cynical play — the latter a crime the GAA attempted to eradicate with the introduction of the black card. ‘Tipperary are well capable of meeting fire with fire if that’s what the game demands. I thought the GAA were going to stamp out this carry on. But they haven’t,’ he said on RTÉ Radio 1’s Sunday Sport. ‘We are making progress in Tipperary but we are not prepared to coach our players maybe in the cynicism that is required to win matches, maybe that is what people are advocating we do but we are not prepared to do that.’ Tensions ran high in Parnell Park and Tyrone manager Feargal Logan was not admitted to the Tipp dressingroom after the match to commiserate with the losing team. Hannigan defended Tipp’s tradition in Gaelic football, suggesting their four senior All-Irelands give them more authority than counties — such as Tyrone — who have fewer. ‘When some of the counties that are talking about football have four All-Irelands won, let them come talk to us,’ he said. ‘We have the famous incident of Michael Hogan getting shot in Croke Park on 21 November 1920 — those are things that live long in the memories of Tipp people.’