Tipperary 3-16 Galway 0-26
By John Fogarty
Back in July, Anthony Cunningham said he would see Brian Cody again on the first Sunday of September. It seemed a bold statement to make at the time. Clearly, he knew more than most.
After a quite brilliant show of hurling, it was substitute Shane Moloney who scored the winning point after Joe Canning put him into space with a beautiful cross-field pass.
Tipperary, largely through Seamus Callanan who was next to unmarkable, appeared to have sculpted a Hollywood finish when substitute Noel McGrath, in his first game for Tipperary since recovering from testicular cancer, pointed in the 70th minute.
But there was still more drama for the 58,495 crowd. Jason Flynn flung over an equaliser a minute later before Moloney became the hero.
Hurling was as much a winner as Galway here as much as Cunningham’s side were the better team. Two Callanan goals in the second half nudged Tipperary ahead on both occasions but Galway returned more fire via points.
Callanan’s right-hand man John O’Dwyer was kept relatively quiet but Jason Flynn and Cathal Mannion were showing once more how much they’ve grown out of Canning’s shadow.
The beginning of this game was smashing. Literally. Padraig Mannion cracked his hurley across Callanan but couldn’t stop the Drom-Inch man fetching, turning and finding the Galway net in the 38th second.
Aidan Harte and Cathal Barrett also had to be directed to the sideline after incurring blood injuries in a start that provided so much of what had been lacking in a disappointing championship heretofore.
Galway could have cancelled out Callanan’s goal when Cyril Donnellan was brought down as he honed in on goal only for Darren Gleeson to be level to Joe Canning’s penalty strike. Gleeson followed up with another save from Cathal Mannion.
Tipperary’s short puck-out strategy was working to a point but what was providing them with most dividend was the movement of their forwards where Callanan lapped up the space in front of him. Galway’s half backs were as much to blame as his marker Padraig Mannion for the 2014 All Star’s influence and by half-time he had 1-5 to his name.
But Galway worked their well into this affair and were hurting Tipperary particularly when Gleeson went long and Iarla Tannian was prominent. They levelled the game in the first minute of additional time and then crept ahead when teenager Conor Whelan posted a fine point to make it 0-13 to 1-9 at the break.
Scores and teams:
Scorers for Galway: J Canning (0-10, 6 frees, 1 65, 1 sideline); C Mannion, J Flynn (1 free) (0-5 each); David Burke, J Whelan (0-2 each); A Smith, S Moloney (0-1 each).
Scorers for Tipperary: S Callanan (3-9, 0-3 frees, 0-1 65, 0-1 pen); J O’Dwyer (0-2); J Forde, B Maher, Patrick Maher, C O’Mahony, N McGrath (0-1 each).
Subs for Galway: D Collins for A Harte (blood 1-5, 32-35); J Cooney for C Donnellan (53); D Collins for A Smith (64); G Lally for A Harte (65); P Brehony for J Hanbury (inj 70).
Subs for Tipperary: P Stapleton for C Barrett (blood 4-8); S Bourke for J Forde (h-t); L Corbett for S McGrath (56); N McGrath for S Bourke (62); C O’Mahony for J Woodlock (63); S Moloney for J Cooney (69); M Breen for R Maher (70+2).
GALWAY: C Callanan; J Hanbury, P Mannion, J Coen; Daithí Burke, I Tannian, A Harte; A Smith, David Burke; J Flynn, C Donnellan, J Glynn; C Whelan, J Canning, C Mannion.
TIPPERARY: D Gleeson; C Barrett, J Barry, C O’Brien; R Maher, Pádraic Maher, K Bergin; J Woodlock, S McGrath; J Forde, B Maher, N O’Meara; J O’Dwyer, S Callanan, Patrick Maher.
Referee: B Kelly (Tipperary)