John Fallon reports from Pearse Stadium
GALWAY DID ENOUGH to see off a Tyrone side who were down to 14 men for three quarters of the game in a good competitive contest to get the All-Ireland series up and running.
Both will feel they have plenty of room for improvement but Galway always had an edge even if they never really killed off the Tyrone challenge.
Galway led by 0-7 to 0-4 at the end of an eventful opening half which saw Tyrone reduced to 13 men at one stage in a game where outbursts of heavy rain made the surface slippery.
The sides were deadlocked at 0-3 apiece after 12 minutes after a lively opening, with Shane Walsh landing a couple of points from play and Johnny Heaney also finding the target for Galway as they enjoyed the backing of the breeze.
Tyrone kept in touch with Darren McCurry, Darragh Canavan and Cormac Quinn kicking good points before Cillian McDaid went forward to score and Walsh landed a free from 40 metres to lead by 0-5 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter.
But then Tyrone wing-forward Frank Burns was sent off for a clumsy high challenge which caught Galway defender Jack Glynn in the face after 18 minutes.
Paul Conroy extended Galway’s lead and then after Ian Burke picked up a yellow card for a high tackle on Peter Harte, Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan was black-carded for dissent.
Tyrone kept their shape well while down to 13 men and only conceded a point in that time when Peter Cooke picked off a good effort.
Tyrone finished the half well with McCurry converting a free to cut the gap to three at the interval.
Tyrone outscored Galway by 0-3 to 0-1 in the opening eleven minutes of the second-half with Mattie Donnelly, McCurry and Canavan finding the range, cutting the gap to the minimum after Cooke fisted over an effort for Galway.
Efforts from Walsh and Matthew Tierney extended Galway’s lead to 0-10 to 0-7 at the end of the third quarter.
The sides exchanged points three times in the next seven minutes with Conroy, McDaid and Rob Finnerty scoring for the Tribesmen, while Tyrone kept in touch with efforts from McCurry, Conor Meyler and Harte to leave it 0-13 to 0-10 with ten minutes remaining.
Tyrone twice got the gap down to two but each time Galway responded with a score to take a goal lead into five minutes of stoppage time and Walsh made it safe with his sixth point and while McCurry got the gap back to three again in the dying moments, they never looked like getting the goal to draw the match.
Scorers for Galway: Shane Walsh 0-6 (0-4f), Peter Cooke 0-2, Paul Conroy 0-2, Cillian McDaid 0-2, Johnny Heaney 0-1, Matthew Tierney 0-1, Damien Comer 0-1, Rob Finnerty 0-1.
Scorers for Tyrone: Darren McCurry 0-7 (0-5f), Darragh Canavan 0-2f, Conor Meyler 0-1, Peter Harte 0-1, Cormac Quinn 0-1, Mattie Donnelly 0-1.
1. Connor Gleeson (Dunmore MacHales)
4. Jack Glynn (Claregalway), 3. Sean Kelly (Moycullen), 2. John McGrath (Caherlistrane)
5. Dylan McHugh (Corofin), 6. John Daly (Mountbellew/Moylough), 7. Cillian McDaid (Monivea/Abbey)
8. Paul Conroy (St James’), 9. John Maher (Salthill/Knocknacarra)
10. Matthew Tierney (Oughterard), 11. Johnny Heaney (Killannin), 12. Peter Cooke (Moycullen)
13. Ian Burke (Corofin), 14. Damien Comer (Annaghdown), 15. Shane Walsh (Kilmacud Crokes)
Substitutes:
1. Niall Morgan (Edendork)
2. Michael McKernan (Coalisland), 3. Ronan McNamee (Aghyaran), 4. Padraig Hampsey (Coalisland)
5. Conor Meyler (Omagh), 6. Cormac Quinn (Errigal Ciaran), 7. Peter Harte (Errigal Ciaran)
8. Brian Kennedy (Derrylaughan), 9. Conn Kilpatrick (Edendork)
10. Frank Burns (Pomeroy), 11. Michael O’Neill (Ardboe), 12. Joe Oguz (Errigal Ciaran)
13. Darren McCurry (Edendork), 14. Mattie Donnelly (Trillick), 15. Darragh Canavan (Errigal Ciaran)
Substitutes:
Referee: David Gough (Meath).
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