Galway v Cork: Two Brian Hayes goals help Rebels to second league win

Galway 1-21
Cork 2-20

A pair of late Brian Hayes goals helped Cork to make it two league wins from two as they saw off Galway at Pearse Stadium on Saturday night.

Before a crowd of 8,464 in Salthill, Cork trailed by seven points on two occasions in the first half but improved coming up to half-time and led after the restart.

While Galway sub Colm Molloy levelled at 1-13 to 0-16 on 48, a superb pickup allowed Shane Barrett to put Cork back in front with his fifth point and sub Tim O’Mahony – whose half-time introduction gave the Rebels a boost at midfield – helped Séamus Harnedy score his fourth.

Tommy O’Connell, having been played in by captain Darragh Fitzgibbon, had sight of goal and a potential five-point lead but good Darragh Neary defending denied him and Galway made the most of that let-off as Gavin Lee and Cathal Mannion levelled.

Only good Roche defending stopped Neary playing in Jason Rabbitte for a goal chance but the hosts did find the lead when Dáire O’Leary was penalised for a throw coming out of defence and Mannion scored his 10th point of the night.

However, after Mannion missed a chance to extend the advantage on the hour – their 14th of 15 wides – Cork seized the momentum again. Fitzgibbon’s searing run up the left flank and unselfish handpass across to Hayes left to the first goal, with points from O’Mahony and Alan Connolly (free) putting Cork four ahead, 1-20 to 1-16.

On 65 minutes, that became seven as Hayes netted again, rounding off a move involving Connolly, Barrett and Fitzgibbon – Cork wouldn’t score again but, while Galway finished with five straight Aaron Niland points, a goal could not be found.

If that purple scoring patch was the winning of the game, the period before the interval was the not-losing of it for Cork.

The loss of the hard-working John Fleming to injury when the score was 1-9 to 0-6 was a blow to Galway and in tandem with that was an increase in Cork’s winning of duels.

Harnedy landed his second point and then he and O’Sullivan combined with Barrett for the latter to score. When Fitzgibbon executed a good turnover on Trayers and found O’Sullivan in space, the gap was down to three, 1-9 to 0-9.

Galway might have engineered a goal chance in the wake of that but Eoin Downey got in a vital intervention to deny Darragh Neary – the ball was worked up the field and Barrett got his third.

With Galway wasting chances to settle through Mannion and Jason Rabbitte, Fitzgibbon was able to cut the lead to one before the half ended in a series of scuffles that continued down the tunnel.

O’Mahony and Hayes were brought on at half-time and, while O’Mahony conceded a free from the throw-in that Mannion converted, Cork replied with three on the trot from Harnedy and Barrett (two) to lead from the first time. From there, much of the second half was to and fro until Hayes’s goals served to help Cork push on.

Early on, Galway had settled far better, with Daithí Burke strong at centre-back, and, but for some wayward shooting, would have been in an even more advantageous position. Their use of the ball was far sharper with Cork sloppy and sluggish and a goal from Tom Monaghan on the 11th minute, set up by Fleming and Jason Rabbitte, was no less than they deserved.

Mannion’s fifth point of the night, a free, had them 1-7 to 0-3 in front and though Cork had three of the next four, Mannion might have added another goal after a lovely passing move, Patrick Collins saved his shot from a tight angle.

Scorers for Galway: C Mannion 0-10 (0-8 f), A Niland 0-5 (0-4 f), G Lee 0-3, T Monaghan 1-0, D Neary, D McLoughlin, C Molloy 0-1 each.
Cork: S Barrett 0-6, B Hayes 2-0, S Harnedy, A Connolly (0-3 f) 0-4 each, D Fitzgibbon 0-3 each, T O’Connell, B O’Sullivan, T O’Mahony 0-1 each.

GALWAY: D Fahy; R Glennon, C Trayers, J Ryan; P Mannion, D Burke, D Loftus; G Lee, T Monaghan; D Neary, C Mannion, J Fleming; A Niland, J Rabbitte, D McLoughlin.

Subs: C Molloy for Fleming (28, injured), TJ Brennan for Glennon (43, injured), C Fahy for Burke (50, injured), S Linnane for Monaghan (58), C Daniels for Trayers (65).
CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, D O’Leary, E Roche; E Downey, R Downey, M Coleman; T O’Connell, B O’Sullivan; D Fitzgibbon, S Barrett, S Harnedy; B Roche, D Dalton, A Connolly.

Subs: T O’Mahony for O’Sullivan, B Hayes for B Roche (both half-time), R O’Flynn for Dalton (47), H O’Connor for Harnedy (64), B Keating for Fitzgibbon (70).

Referee: M Kennedy (Tipperary).