Galway 2-22

Offaly 0-16

DO we know anything more about the potential shape of the Galway hurling team this Spring after Sunday’s convincing Walsh Cup semi-final victory over Offaly at Duggan Park on Sunday?

In a nutshell, not really but that’s hardly unexpected given that it’s only early January, while the wind and rain around Ballinasloe militated against much fluent hurling in front of more than 1,500 spectators.

The reality is that Galway could assemble three teams of roughly the same standard and while that highlights the depth of hurling talent in the county, the evenness of many of the players does make it challenging for the team management to eventually put together their best 15 for the championship.

There was a host of newcomers in Galway’s ranks on Sunday, but this was not a day for making rash judgements. Most of them were adequate while a couple, particularly Jason Rabbitte and Aaron Niland, were significantly better than that.

Darragh Neary, scorer of two points, the well-built Cian Daniels, and goalkeeper Stephen O’Halloran – who kept his net intact in a match where substitutes Padraic Mannion, TJ Brennan, John Fleming and Evan Niland all made a big impression – also merit further scrutiny.

Throw in the prominence of Daithí Burke, an unexpected starter in midfield; the typical energy of Tom Monaghan; and Dan Loftus doing the basics well in the half-back line, it amounted to a decent start to the new campaign for Galway.

Given their opening round fixture against Kildare in Newbridge was a late casualty to the weather, it was no surprise that Micheál Donoghue and his management made a raft of substitutions over the course of the game.

Offaly haven’t beaten Galway in a competitive fixture since their National League win (2-23 to 3-11) in Birr in early February of 2001, but until the final 10 minutes on Sunday, the prospect of the Faithful men ending a quarter of century of poor results against their neighbours couldn’t entirely be ruled out.

Offaly were only three points behind and had the assistance of the strengthening wind, but illustrating the gulf between the teams, Galway had the capacity to move up a few gears by subsequently registering an unanswered 1-6 against tiring opponents.

Their second goal came from Monaghan in the 58th minute after Mannion and the lively Declan McLaughlin had done the spadework, with the accurate Evan Niland (3), Fleming (2) and Rabbitte all joining the home team’s late scoring spree.

There was a plethora of scores early on. Points from Neary (2), Aaron Niland, Rory Burke (2), and a cracker from impressive corner-back Joshua Ryan had Galway 0-6 to 0-3 ahead after 11 minutes, but they weren’t getting things all their own way.

Conor Doyle, who picked off a brace of opening-half points, was roving to good effect; while the likes of Ben Miller, Donal Shirley, Dan Ravenhill, Ter Guinan and full-forward Daniel Bourke, who was liable to pop up anywhere, were leading their resistance.

In the second quarter, Gavin Lee, Rabbitte, Rory Burke, in particular, and McLaughlin – a quality score on the turn – added to Galway’s total and despite a series of frees from Oisín Kelly, the hosts led comfortably by 0-13 to 0-8 at the interval.

Pictured: Galway’s Darragh Neary aiming for the posts against Offaly’s Donal Shirley during Sunday’s Walsh Cup semi-final at Duggan Park. Photos: David Cunniffe.