Galway 0-13 Cavan 0-11
The Galway footballers got their Allianz League Division 1 campaign off to a winning start in Pearse Stadium yesterday when a strong second half showing saw Kevin Walsh's side overcome Cavan 0-13 to 0-11. Five players were sin-binned during the second half by referee Derek O'Mahony, with Cavan down to 12 players for four minutes at one stage, while two Galway players picked up black cards at different stages.
Galway made the most of their brief numerical advantage to open up a 5 point lead which was sufficient to hold off a late Cavan rally. The Tribesmen made little use of wind advantage in the opening half at the Salthill venue where a crowd of 8,211 attended the double-header.
Padraig Cunningham opened the scoring for Galway but Cavan soon opened up a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after ten minutes, as Pierce Smith and goalkeeper Ray Galligan pointed frees either side of a superb effort from the right wing by Conor Madden. Further points by Martin Reilly and Jack Brady, either side of a Peter Cooke effort for Galway, made it 0-5 to 0-2, but Galway hit the next three points, with Shane Walsh pointing a free from the right and Gareth Bradshaw pointing from play before Johnny Heaney had a goal effort deflected over to tie the sides at 0-5 each at the interval.
Reilly and Cunningham exchanged points after half-time but while Galway lost Cillian McDaid to a black card, they outscored Cavan by two points to one while down a man for ten minutes. Jack Brady tied the sides at 0-8 each with a superb point from a sideline on the right after 49 minutes but they didn’t score again until injury-time. Galway opened a two point lead for the first time when Heaney and Gary O’Donnell scored. But then Cavan lost three players to black cards with Reilly, Killian Brady and Killian Clarke spending ten minutes in the sin bin along with Cooke. The Tribesmen, Ian Burke and Heaney extended their lead to 0-12 to 0-8. Another free by Walsh put five between them but a free from Reilly and a good effort from Cian Mackey reduced the margin to a goal. That gap was reduced to two with a free from Conor Madden but Cavan never looked like getting a goal to snatch it.
Galway: Ruairí Lavelle; David Wynne, Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh, Eoghan Kerin; Gary O’Donnell (0-01), Liam Silke, Seán Kelly; Ciaran Duggan, Tom Flynn; Cillian McDaid, Peter Cooke (0-01), Johnny Heaney (0-03); Padraig Cunningham (0-02), Ian Burke (0-01), Shane Walsh (0-04, 0-04f). Subs: Gareth Bradshaw (0-1) for Wynne (20), Danny Cummins for Cunningham (65), Cein D’Arcy for Flynn (70), Johnny Duane for Burke (72).
Cavan: Raymond Galligan (0-1, 0-1f); Jason McLoughlin, Killian Clarke, Padraig Faulkner; Martin Reilly (0-02, 0-01f), Barry Fortune, Conor Rehill; Thomas Galligan, Michael Argue; Pierce Smith (0-02, 0-02f), Jack Brady (0-02, 0-1sl), Niall Murray; Ciaran Brady, Dara McVeety, Conor Madden (0-02, 0-01f). Subs: Killian Brady for Fortune (35), Kevin Tierney for Argue (57), Paul Graham for Smith (61), Cian Mackey (0-01) for T Galligan (65), Luke Fortune for Faulkner (66)
After the match Kevin Dwyer spoke to Kevin Walsh:
https://galwaybayfmsports.podbean.com/mf/play/zb6mwh/KEVIN_WALSH_POST_CAVAN.mp3
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