Gaelic Games

Galway start their campaign with winning ways

Carlow cut gap to four points with goal from Kehoe, but Galway hit 10 points without reply

Carlow’s Niall Bolger with Galway's Donal O'Shea in their Leinster senior championship game at Pearse Stadium, Co Galway. Photograph: Ashley Cahill/Inpho
Carlow’s Niall Bolger with Galway's Donal O'Shea in their Leinster senior championship game at Pearse Stadium, Co Galway. Photograph: Ashley Cahill/Inpho
Sun Apr 21 2024 - 17:41
Leinster SHC, first round
Galway 2-25 Carlow 2-14

Galway did all that was required of them to see off a gutsy Carlow side and get their Leinster SHC campaign off to a winning start in front of a crowd of under 2,000 at Pearse Stadium, Galway.

The introduction of captain Conor Whelan saw Galway kill off any notion of a Carlow comeback when they got the gap down to four points heading into the final quarter, but Henry Shefflin knows they will need to be much better when they host his native Kilkenny next weekend.

Galway led 1-14 to 0-9 at the break after eight players found the target, with Gavin Lee crowning his first championship start with a goal inside two minutes.

Carlow outscored Galway by 0-5 to 0-4 in the opening 16 minutes of the second half before Conor Kehoe cut the gap to 1-18 to 1-14 when he sent a rebound to the net after goalkeeper Darach Fahy had saved from Kavanagh. The Galway response was good and they hit 1-7 without reply in the next 13 minutes to kill off any notion of a shock result.

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Conor Cooney, who finished with 1-10, 1-5 of it from play, became only the second Galway player to surpass 200 points in championship hurling after Joe Canning when he found the net after 56 minutes after good work from Whelan and Cathal Mannion.

Carlow kept plugging away and got a second goal when Jon Nolan finished a rebound to the net after Fahy saved a penalty from Kavanagh in the dying moments of the game.

Galway: D Fahy; J Grealish, F Burke, P Mannion; S Linnane, A Tuohey (0-1), Daithí Burke; R Glennon (0-1), D O’Shea (0-1); G Lee (1-2), T Monaghan (0-2), John Cooney; C Mannion (0-3), C Cooney (1-10, 0-3f, 0-2′65), D McLoughlin (0-1). Subs: E Niland (0-1) for Monaghan (49), C Whelan (0-3) for McLaughlin (49), D Morrissey for Linnane (58), David Burke for Glennon (58), Joseph Cooney for Tuohey (62).

Carlow: B Tracey; P Doyle, D Wall, K McDonald; J Kavanagh, N Bolger, T Lawlor (0-1); R Coady, F Fitzpatrick; JM Nolan (0-1), C Whelan (0-1), J Nolan (1-1); M Kavanagh (0-8, 0-5f), C Nolan (0-2), C Kehoe (1-0). Subs: J McCullagh for J Kavanagh (60), P Boland for Kehoe (62), F O’Toole for Whelan (65), S Treacy for C Nolan (68), Jake Doyle for JM Nolan (69).

Referee: Sean Stack (Dublin).