By Eanna O’Reilly

WHEN Micheál Donoghue and the Galway players look back on their quarter final defeat to Tipperary, large parts of the game won’t make for pleasant viewing. The ease with which Tipp dominated the Tribesmen for long spells, and the lack of intensity in Galway’s play were striking features of a very bleak evening at the Gaelic Grounds.

Given the current rebuilding job being undertaken by a management team in the first year of a four year term, and Galway’s failure to reach the knock-out stages of the championship last year, a quarter final exit wasn’t a disastrous place to finish the season and shouldn’t have come as a major surprise to supporters.

However, the manner of the defeat, and how far off the pace the Tribesmen were on the day, was quite disconcerting. Most hurling followers both inside and outside the county would have expected Galway to put up a sterner challenge to Tipperary, even if the outcome was still a defeat.

The question many observers were asking in the aftermath of this game was whether or not the result was more reflective of Tipp’s quality or Galway’s deficiencies. While Tipp have certainly improved this season, the Tribesmen played into their hands to a huge extent on Saturday evening.

Galway looked flat and off the pace from an early stage. They were indecisive and poor in possession throughout, while their touch and ball handling were not up to standard. There was a distinct lack of urgency in the Tribesmen’s play, while they conceded scores to Tipp directly from their own errors throughout the game.

Early points in the first half for Jason Forde and Andrew Ormond came directly from Galway turnovers. Forde’s second point from play came as a result of his run not being tracked by any Galway player. Sam O’Farrell’s 21st minute point also came from a turnover.

After Cathal Mannion pointed to make it 0-11 to 0-7, the subsequent puckout saw Cianán Fahy gave away a needless foul under the dropping ball, which saw Darragh McCarthy convert an easy free for Tipp. Two minutes later, another turnover from Pádraic Mannion resulted in a score for Ormond. John McGrath’s point in the 30th minute was a result of non-existent marking.

Pictured: Tipperary’s Jake Morris aims for the posts as Galway’s Darren Morrissey gives chase during Saturday’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling quarter-final at the Gaelic Grounds. Photo: Ray McManus/Sportsfile.