Hurling & Camogie

Joe Canning leads Galway past Westmeath with ease

&nbsp; LEADING THE &rsquo;WAY: Joe Canning bagged eight points for Miche&aacute;l Donoghue&rsquo;s Galway before being taken off with a knock in yesterday&rsquo;s facile Leinster SHC quarter-final defeat of Westmeath in Mullingar<br />Picture by Seamus Loughran
  LEADING THE ’WAY: Joe Canning bagged eight points for Micheál Donoghue’s Galway before being taken off with a knock in yesterday’s facile Leinster SHC quarter-final defeat of Westmeath in Mullingar
Picture by Seamus Lo
  LEADING THE ’WAY: Joe Canning bagged eight points for Micheál Donoghue’s Galway before being taken off with a knock in yesterday’s facile Leinster SHC quarter-final defeat of Westmeath in Mullingar
Picture by Seamus Loughran

Leinster SHC quarter-final: Westmeath 0-19 Galway 3-27

A rampant Galway outfit was never troubled by a very disappointing Westmeath side in a very pedestrian and one-sided Leinster senior hurling quarter-final in Mullingar yesterday afternoon.

A crowd of 5,263 turned up in humid conditions, with late arrivals causing a 10-minute delay to the throw-in. Many spectators – from both camps – expected the home side to build on their recent surprise round robin win against Offaly and their U21 team’s sensational victory over Kilkenny. However, in truth, Michael Ryan’s men were outclassed in most facets of play from start to finish.

Westmeath remained somewhat in contention during the opening quarter, at the end of which they trailed 0-7 to 0-3. However, Micheál Donoghue’s charges took control at this juncture, with Joe Canning given the opportunity to display many of his skills from placed balls and open play, including a trademark point from a line-ball in the 33rd minute.

Many of the winners’ scores were greeted by virtual silence with the outcome already in no doubt. 

Indeed, it needed three outstanding saves by Paddy Maloney to prevent the Tribesmen from finding the net in the first half. Galway deservedly led by 0-17 to 0-5 at the break.

Any slim chance of a miraculous recovery by Westmeath disappeared when corner-back Shane Power was sent off less than five minutes after play resumed, with Canning needing attention. 

Canning was replaced after the red card incident, but O’Donoghue pointed out after the game that the Portumna maestro was taken off merely “as a precaution on the recommendation of the doctor. I didn’t see the incident, but Joe is fine in the dressing room there now”.

His replacement Conor Cooney took the opportunity to show his worth by scoring four points from play. 

His manager was particularly pleased about this, stating: “It’s great to see Conor back as he’s had a rough 18 months with injury, but he’s trained really hard since February.”

Jason Flynn, Joseph Cooney and Conor Whelan all found the net with aplomb in the 45th, 48th and 63rd minutes respectively as Westmeath’s defence crumbled under the pressure of being a man down.

The introduction of veteran Brendan Murtagh and U21 star Niall Mitchell improved the Lake county attack, but they never threatened to score a face-saving goal at any stage of a lifeless contest.

It was mostly down to Niall O’Brien’s accuracy from play and frees that they kept the scoreboard ticking over. The entire second half was totally devoid of atmosphere.

“Westmeath’s great win (over Kilkenny) in the U21 and their three victories in the round robin meant that we had to make sure we were in the right frame of mind for today and, in fairness to the lads, they worked really hard the last few weeks,” said Donoghue. 

“We came well prepared. It was very disappointing to be relegated in the League, so it’s great to get up and running today. 

“Today was only the first game and we’re not getting carried away.”

Galway will be red-hot favourites to defeat one-time nemesis Offaly in the provincial semi-final, albeit conscious of the Faithful county’s improvement since suffering a 14-point hammering at Westmeath’s hands on May 1. 

“There is a lot of stuff to be worked on and we will re-focus for that game from next Tuesday,” said 


Donoghue.

“Cathal (Mannion) and Daithí (Burke) picked up knocks, but we’ll have to nurse them and we hope to have them available for selection in two weeks’ time.”

Westmeath will need to re-group ahead of the Qualifiers, prior to which their history-making U21 team will face Dublin in the Leinster semi-final on June 15.

Michael Ryan was understandably dejected after the game. 

“I feel very sorry for the lads, as today wasn’t a reflection of their ability or the training they did over the last number of months,” said the Westmeath boss.

“We never got to the pitch of the game today and we missed four or five chances when we were still in contention in the first half. Galway were way too good for us and we have to learn from this.” 

MATCH STATS


Galway: C Callanan; J Coen, J Hanbury, F Moore; P Mannion, Daithí Burke, A Harte; David Burke (0-3), D Glennon (0-3); S Moloney (0-1), J Canning (0-8, 0-3 frees, 0-1 sideline, 0-1 65), J Cooney (1-0); C Whelan (1-1), C Mannion (0-2), J Flynn (1-3, 0-1 free). Subs: C Cooney (0-4) for Canning (40), K Hussey for Moore (52), A Tuohy for P Mannion (52), N Burke (0-1) for Flynn (56), P Brehony (0-1) for Coen (63).


Westmeath: P Maloney; S Power, T Doyle, T Gallagher; A Craig, A Clarke, G Greville; C Boyle, R Greville; L Varley, E Price, N O’Brien (0-12, 0-8 frees); A Devine (0-2), D McNicholas, D Egerton. Subs: B Murtagh (0-2, 0-1 free) for Egerton (h-t), N Mitchell (0-2) for Boyle (51), A McGrath for Varley (55), K Doyle (0-1) for Price (58), D Clinton for McNicholas (59).


Referee: D Kirwan (Cork)