Galway 3-16
Tipperary 1-19
THREE GOALS JUST before half-time laid the foundation for a Galway win today at Pearse Stadium which greatly eases their relegation fears but plunges Tipperary into further trouble with a third successive loss.
Once again a suspect Tipperary defence proved costly with Niall Healy, Conor Cooney and Jonathan Glynn shooting to the net before the break to lead by 3-8 to 0-9 despite playing against the wind.
Despite Seamus Callanan grabbing 1-11 for Tipperary, Galway held on in the dying minutes after influential centre-back Iarla Tannian was shown a second yellow card.
Galway started brightly and led by three points to no score after four minutes with Craughwell’s Niall Healy in fine form. Goalkeeper Colm Callanan produced a marvellous double save to deny Tipperary a goal after five minutes.
Michael Heffernan drew the initial save from the Kinvara clubman while Patrick Maher was first to the rebound only for Callanan to deny Tipperary for the second time.
Galway had a goal chance of their own after 17 minutes but Jonathon Glynn rattled the post. The ball fell to midfielder Padraig Brehony who split the posts to put Galway 0-7 to 0-4 up.
Galway didn’t miss their second goal chance after 20 minutes though as Healy rifled the ball into the corner of Darren Gleeson’s net after a pass from captain David Burke.
Galway extended their advantage with a second goal after 25 minutes. Jonathan Glynn was hauled down by Paddy Stapleton and referee Anthony Stapleton awarded Galway a penalty which St. Thomas’ forward Conor Cooney converted to make it 2-8 to 0-8.
Seamus Callanan pointed a free for the visitors before the Tribesman scored their third goal. Glynn soloed through the Tipperary defence and flicked the ball past Gleeson after thirty minutes. Galway led 3-8 to 0-9 at half time.
Galway started the second half as they began the first with three unanswered points inside four minutes. Tipperary responded with three of their own with Shane McGrath contributing two from midfield to make it 3-11 to 0-12 with 47 minutes gone.
Galway duo David Burke and Padraig Brehony grabbed a point each before Callanan pointed a number of frees. Captain Burke scored his third point of the game just before centre-back Iarla Tannian was shown his second yellow card with eight minutes remaining.
With the numerical advantage, Tipperary got three points, all from Callanan, before the Drom-Inch man scored a goal from a free with a minute remaining. Callanan finished with 1-11 but it wasn’t enough as Galway held on to secure victory and ease their relegation worries slightly.
Scorers for Galway: Niall Healy 1-3, Conor Cooney 1-3 (1-0 pen, 0-3f); Jonathan Glynn 1-1; David Burke 0-3 (0-1 sidelinel), Pádraig Brehony (0-3); Johnny Coen, Iarla Tannian, Cathal Mannion 0-1 each.Scorers for Tipperary: Seamus Callanan 1-11 (1-8f, 0-1 ’65); Shane McGrath, John O’Dwyer, Kieran Bergin 0-2 each; Noel McGrath, Michael Heffernan 0-1 each.
GALWAY: Colm Callanan; Fergal Moore, Ronan Burke, David Collins; Aidan Harte, Iarla Tannian, Dáithí Burke; Johnny Coen, Pádraig Brehony; Gearóid McInerney, Conor Cooney, David Burke (c); Niall Healy, Jonathan Glynn, Cathal Mannion
Subs: Niall Burke for McInerney (41); Jason Flynn for Mannion (57); David Glennon for Healy (67); Paul Killeen for Harte (69)
TIPPERARY: Darren Gleeson; Michael Cahill, Paddy Stapleton, Cathal Barrett; Brendan Maher (c), Conor O’Mahony, Padraic Maher; Shane McGrath, James Woodlock; Noel McGrath, John O’Dwyer, Patrick Maher; Conor Kenny, Seamus Callanan, Micheal Heffernan
Subs: Kieran Bergin for Woodlock (23); Eoin Kelly for Kenny (32); Denis Maher for N McGrath (ht); Conor O’Brien for Heffernan (44); Paddy Murphy for Cahill (62)
Referee: Anthony Stapleton (Laois).