Allianz Football League Division One: Galway 0-21 Donegal 0-14
Galway captain Seán Kelly said their ability to pick off two-point scores when they had the strong wind behind them in the opening half was the decisive factor as they maintained their unbeaten start and inflicted a first defeat on Donegal at Pearse Stadium.
Shane Walsh led the way with a masterclass in shooting as Galway hit seven two-pointers with the wind and never looked like surrendering their 0-17 to 0-1 interval lead despite having a man sent off before the break and suffering two black cards in the second half.
“A lot of twos in the first half gave us a good lead and we probably learnt from Derry last week that playing against the breeze is tough and you have to dog it out and that’s what we did. We are delighted with that. We learnt a lesson from last week in how to get the two points,” said Kelly.
Galway’s Matthew Tierney was red-carded just before the interval and Daniel O’Flaherty and Finnian Ó Laoi were black-carded during the second half. But the Tribesmen, despite not having Player of the Year Paul Conroy, did enough to secure their first home league win over Donegal since manager Pádraic Joyce skippered them to victory in 2009.
Michael Murphy, who came on last week for his first intercounty action since 2022, was not in the Donegal squad and selector Colm McFadden said he may feature next week against Derry.
“He had a bit of a niggle after last weekend so he’s nursing that injury. He got 25 minutes last week and it was brilliant for everyone to see him back on the pitch. Hopefully he will be back, it’s only a short-term thing,” said McFadden, who conceded they left themselves with too much to do after the opening half.
“Galway made easy work of it in the first half, they were kicking over two-pointers which aren’t easy. You were looking at the scoreboard and it was going two, four, six, eight. They played well even in the second half when they were down a man or two, but at times it looked like they had the extra man. We couldn’t make the extra man, or two men, count when we had them.”
Galway’s Matthew Tierney was harshly red-carded just before the interval when he went to shoulder Hugh McFadden, who dipped in the challenge, while Daniel O’Flaherty and Finnian O Laoi were black-carded during the second half.
But it made little difference to the outcome. Walsh was superb, shooting four two-pointers in the opening half, three of them from play, landing kicks off both feet and from all angles.
Galway shot seven two-pointers with the wind as Tierney, goalkeeper Conor Flaherty — a late replacement for Connor Gleeson before they switched at the break — and Rob Finnerty scored from range.
Conor O’Donnell eventually opened Donegal’s account from a 20-metre free five minutes from the break.
A couple of two-pointers from Daire Ó Baoill and one from Conor O’Donnell helped Donegal reduce the margin after the restart but Walsh responded with a couple of points for Galway to leave it 0-19 to 0-6 after 50 minutes.
But then Galway defender O’Flaherty was black-carded for an off-the-ball push on Shane O’Donnell. That left Galway down to 13 men for 10 minutes but they only conceded points to Ciarán Thompson, Oisín Gallen and Ó Baoill during that spell to take a 0-19 to 0-9 lead into the closing 13 minutes.
Péadar Mogan went forward to shoot a two-pointer for Donegal but after another point from Walsh, Galway were again reduced to 13 men after 63 minutes when substitute Ó Laoi pulled down Mark Curran as the Donegal defender tried to come out.
But Donegal never looked like saving their unbeaten start to the campaign with Walsh and the superb John Maher extending Galway’s lead.
Shane O’Donnell, Ó Baoill and Thompson hit late points for Donegal but it was Galway who repeated their All-Ireland semi-final success to make it three wins and a draw so far in this campaign.
GALWAY: C Flaherty (0-1-0); J McGrath, S Kelly, D O’Flaherty (0-0-1); D McHugh, S Fitzgerald, L Silke (0-0-1); C Hernon, J Maher (0-0-1); C Sweeney, S O’Neill, C D’Arcy; R Finnerty (0-1-1, 1tpf), M Tierney (0-1-0), S Walsh (0-4-3, 1tpf, 2f).
Subs: C Gleeson for Flaherty (half-time); J Glynn for Fitzgerald, F Ó Laoi for O’Neill (both 44 mins); S Ó Maoilchiaráin for Hernon (50); M Thompson for Finnerty (60).
DONEGAL: S Patton; M Curran, B McCole, P Mogan (0-1-0); E McHugh, C McGonigle, C Moore; H McFadden, D Mac Giolla Bríde; O Doherty, D Ó Baoill (0-2-2), J Brennan; S O’Donnell (0-0-1), O Gallen (0-0-1), C O’Donnell (0-0-2).
Subs: E Bán Gallagher for McHugh, C Thompson (0-0-2) for Mac Giolla Bríde, N O’Donnell for Doherty (all half-time); J Mac Ceallabhuí for McFadden, C McGuinness for Brennan (both 57 mins).
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).
