Offaly Hurlers Blown Away By Rampant Galway

By Justin Kelly


Galway 2-22 
Offaly 1-13

Brian Whelahan’s Offaly hurlers were brushed aside by Anthony Cunningham’s Galway outfit in a one-sided Walsh Cup clash on Sunday. Offaly were coming off the back of a five-point victory against Westmeath, while Galway overcame the same opposition by eight points a week later in the same competition.


Offaly opened the scoring through Sean Ryan, but the bright start faded quickly as Galway raced into a 1-6 to 0-2 lead after just 13 minutes. Galway were commanding the game, and four successive points from David Collins saw the Tribesmen extend their advantage by the 21st minute.

Any hint of a comeback from the Offaly men was snuffed out when star forward Shane Dooley saw his penalty saved by Galway keeper Colm Callanan. Jason Flynn and Dean Higgins had the pick of the scores in the first half, and when the interval arrived, Offaly trailed 1-17 to 0-5.

Offaly stemmed the tide somewhat in the second half, but when Shane Dooley finally netted with twenty minutes remaining, Galway were out of sight on a scoreline of 2-19 to 1-7. Offaly did hit six more points in the time remaining but Galway always kept them at bay with ease, bagging three scores of their own before the final whistle in Tullamore.

The contest finished 2-22 to 1-13, and Galway will now play Carlow in the second of the Walsh Cup semi-finals, while an improving Laois side will take on Dublin in the other tie.

Offaly boss Brian Whelahan was visibly disappointed after the drubbing as the result comes just a matter of weeks after he hailed his team “a very professional outfit.” Whelahan spoke to the media after the game: “I’m very disappointed. Today was a day where you would want to be showing the work that you have been putting in.”

The Offaly boss spoke recently about his players “enjoying the discipline” of a new tougher training regime, and was less than impressed with the end product on Sunday: “We have worked very hard over the past two and a half months addressing those things, but it didn’t happen today,” he said. “It was a disappointing 70 minutes,” the Birr man added.

Offaly will now begin preparations for an opening day battle with Laois in the first round of Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League on February 14.