Galway destroy lacklustre Laois in one-sided Leinster SHC semi-final
Saturday 20 June 2015 21:06, UK
Galway are through to the Leinster hurling final against Kilkenny or Wexford after destroying Laois 3-28 to 1-14 in O'Connor Park.
The Tribesmen completely dominated Laois after a competitive opening quarter left the sides’ level at 0-2 each.
Galway struggled badly through this period but found their A-game after Johnny Coen speculative drive fell thorough a cluster of bodies and bounced into Eoin Reilly’s net.
It was a tough blow for Laois but few would have expected for them to keep on coming and in the manner they did.
Galway had found their groove in an instant and rattled over points from an array of angles and distances.
How bad was it? Well, the entire Galway full-back line had scored by the 25th minute and with Joe Canning shrugging off opponents, the scores flew off the production line.
Laois enjoyed just one moment through the remainder of a one-sided first-half and it was telling that it was a brilliant O’Reilly save from Cyril Donnellan.
All the entries were on the credit side for Galway and their graph continued to climb steadily through the second-half.
Laois did resume with gusto but trailing 1-18 to 0-2 at the interval they needed to.
Cha Dwyer hit one of the points of the afternoon for the O’Moore men, Zane Keenan followed with a free and Patrick Purcell added a fine score from close to the touchline but Galway’s response was to bite down even harder.
Joe Canning, Andy Smith and Davy Glennon all hit points that quickly cancelled out the Laois’ gain and then Canning stood strong under a high ball on the edge of the square, gathered, shrugged, swiveled and struck to the net.
He and Glennon kept the foot on the gas before the latter palmed to the net after losing his hurl en-route through the O’Moore defence.
It was well over by then. In truth, it was over after Coen’s fortuitous goal on 17 minutes.
Galway: C Callanan; J Coen (1-0), J Hanbury (0-1), P Mannion (0-2); D Collins, I Tannian, D Burke; A Smith (0-2), A Harte; D Burke (0-2), C Donnellan, J Glynn; C Mannion (0-1), J Canning (1-15, 9f, 2’65), N Healy (0-2).
Substitutes: D Glennon (1-2) for Healy (39), J Cooney for Donnellan (47), P Brehony (0-1) for Harte (52), G McInerney for Collins (55), F Moore for C Mannion (60)
Laois: E Reilly; J A. Delaney, C Healy, B Stapleton; J Fitzpatrick, M Whelan (0-2), T Delaney; J Campion (0-1), P Purcell (0-3); T Fitzgerald (0-1), Z Keenan (0-5, 3f, 2’65), C Dwyer; D Palmer, W Hyland, S Maher (1-1).
Substitutes: P Whelan for M Whelan (33, blood), P Whelan for JA Delaney (46), N Foyle for Campion (54), B Conroy for T Fitzgerald (63)
Referee: Fergal Horgan (Tipperary)
