In the first round of the Leinster SHC, Galway triumphed over a determined Carlow side, 2-25 to 2-14. The match, at Pearse Stadium in Galway, saw under 2,000 spectators. Galway managed to prevent a comeback from Carlow, who had narrowed the gap to a mere four points in the final stages. Galway’s captain, Conor Whelan, played a key role in this. However, Henry Shefflin is aware that Galway needs to step up its game when they host Kilkenny next weekend, his home team.
By half-time, Galway led 1-14 to 0-9, thanks to eight of their players scoring, and Gavin Lee making his first championship goal within the first two minutes. During the second half’s initial 16 minutes, Carlow scored a point more than Galway, 0-5 to 0-4, before Conor Kehoe reduced the gap further, 1-18 to 1-14, by netting a rebound. Though, the response from Galway was awe-inspiring – they clocked 1-7 points in the subsequent 13 minutes, quashing any hopes of an upset victory.
Making a significant contribution was Conor Cooney, who completed with 1-10, 1-5 of it from live action, and chalked up his name as the second Galway hurler to cross the 200-point milestone in championship hurling, following Joe Canning. He succeeded in netting after a power play during the 56th minute by Whelan and Cathal Mannion.
Carlow, despite the odds, doggedly kept going and secured their second goal when Jon Nolan made a successful rebound post-Fahy saving a penalty from Kavanagh during the game’s final moments.
In a Gaelic football match in Galway, team players included D Fahy, J Grealish, F Burke, P Mannion, S Linnane, A Tuohey who scored a point, Daithí Burke, R Glennon who also scored, D O’Shea, G Lee scoring 1 goal and 2 points, T Monaghan scoring 2 points, John Cooney, C Mannion scored 3 points, C Cooney with an impressive 1 goal and 10 points, and D McLoughlin scoring a point. Substitutes brought in were E Niland for Monaghan after 49 minutes, as well as C Whelan for McLaughlin, D Morrissey for Linnane after 58 minutes, subsequently David Burke for Glennon, and finally, Joseph Cooney for Tuohey after 62 minutes.
In contrast, Carlow’s team consisted of B Tracey, P Doyle, D Wall, K McDonald, J Kavanagh, N Bolger, T Lawlor scoring a point, R Coady, F Fitzpatrick, JM Nolan who scored a goal and a point, C Whelan scoring a point, J Nolan scoring a goal and a point too, M Kavanagh scoring 8 points, including 5 frees, C Nolan with 2 points, and C Kehoe who managed to score a goal. Substitutes for the team were J McCullagh for J Kavanagh after the 60 minute mark, then P Boland for Kehoe, F O’Toole for Whelan after 65 minutes, S Treacy replacing C Nolan, and lastly, Jake Doyle for JM Nolan in the final minute.
The match was judged by Dublin’s Referee, Sean Stack.