Late Gearoid O'Connor penalty seals home win for Tipp over rivals Galway

Allianz National Hurling League - Division 1B - Round 2

Tipperary 1-26

Galway 0-24

A Jekyll and Hyde performance from Tipperary was enough for Liam Cahill’s men to shrug off Galway in FBD Semple Stadium after an entertaining and intense February contest in round two of the National Hurling League.

Tipperary were impressive at times in the game but also allowed Galway periods of dominance despite taking substantial leads in different periods of either half, but it took a late Gearoid O’Connor penalty to finally copperfasten victory for the Premier as they made it two wins from two in Division 1B.

There will be some worry for Tipperary supporters from this game though, as both Jake Morris and Bryan O’Mara went off injured before half-time and that will be the only black spot on what was an overall positive result for Liam Cahill and his charges.

There was a lot to like with Tipperary’s play in the opening quarter of this game as they were the more busy team early on and went ahead 0-3 to 0-1 after five minutes with Gearoid O’Connor’s free being followed by points from play from first John McGrath and then Alan Tyna from range with Conor Cooney the opening scorer for Galway.

Sean Ryan and Sean Kenneally were populating the two-man inside forward line and they were looking sharp in the early exchanges just after Tom Monaghan got Galway’s second point in the sixth minute, Sean Kenneally cut in the end line before feeding a hand pass across to his namesake from Templederry but Ryan couldn’t connect with the double and the chance went begging.

Jake Morris did retrieve something from that play with the ball recycling out to him to tap over his first of the day as Tipp continued to be in the ascendancy in the opening quarter and by the 15-minute mark they were double scores ahead at 0-8 to 0-4 with four points in succession by Gearoid O’Connor (two frees) putting them ahead.

A lot of that early good work was soured somewhat in the next six or seven minutes though with both Bryan O’Mara and Jake Morris retiring with injuries in the 15th and 22nd minute respectively. Still, Tipp continued to play the better stuff as Galway were guilty of some poor errors in possession.

Indeed, Galway had Darach Fahy to thank that the game wasn’t running away from them in the 17th minute when Sean Ryan cut past the desperate tackles of TJ Brennan and despite doing everything right, Fahy showed brilliant reflexes to save the batted effort from Ryan and divert the ball to safety.

Soon after, two O’Connor and Evan Niland placed balls were exchanged before Willie Connors and Sean Kenneally, and Conor Bowe hit the target for the first time to give Tipp a deserved 0-14 to 0-8 lead by the 26th minute with the Tribesmen struggling to implement their game.

Still to their credit, the visitors knuckled down now and did have the better of the last ten minutes with Conor Cooney, Gavin Lee, and Conor Whelan as chief scorers with Galways hitting four in a row between the 29th and 33rd minute, but a late free from Gearoid O’Connor and a class effort from under the new stand from Craig Morgan sailing over the bar as Tipp led 0-16 to 0-13 at the break.

Play went mostly Tipp’s way in the first half so they would have been disappointed only to be a score ahead at the break and it looked like that message was given in the dressing room as Tipperary took off after the restart.

Five points within the first eight minutes of the half went over the Galway crossbar with Mark Kehoe bursting into life with the first three as he had Daithi Burke in trouble with his pace with Gearoid O’Connor nearly matching Kehoe’s feat with two from play back-to-back points in the 42nd minute.

That put Tipp back into a commanding position with an eight-point advantage in their favour but Galway once again stuck to their task and eventually found their feet in the second half after the early Premier onslaught with Conor Cooney hitting his second to break that run of Tipp scores.

Incredibly, the momentum completely swung in Galway’s direction after that Cooney point as it started a run of seven Galway points in succession with Evan Niland (four), Gavin Lee, and another from Cooney making it just a one-point game at the 59-minute mark.

Tipp were taking on water now and they needed an inspired long-range effort from Conor Bowe to stem the bleeding in the 60th minute, but Galway were still in charge of the proceedings as they had equalised with scores Sean Linnane and a fifth of the day for Conor Cooney whose shooting was laser accurate all day. 0-22 apice with 62 minutes gone.

It was still level-pegging three minutes later when Gearoid O’Connor and Evan Niland traded frees but in fairness to Tipp they eeked out three vital scores with very little happening up front, first from Seamus Kennedy for his first before O’Connor hit another two points - the first of which was a lovely one-two from John McGrath after a mis-hit sideline.

Tipp ahead against by three points with injury time coming into focus.

Niland found the target from a free in the 71st minute but Tipp sealed the game soon after when Conor Stakelum - just on the field - was brought down by Sean Linnane in front of goal and the Galway man was duly black carded and from the resulting penalty, Gearoid O’Connor buried his shot straight down the middle to seal the win for Tipp and put them in a strong position for a league semi-final spot.

Scorers: Tipperary: Gearoid O’Connor (1-13, 0-8f, 0-1 65, 1-0 penalty), Mark Kehoe 0-3, Willie Connors, Conor Bowe 0-2 each, John McGrath, Alan Tynan, Jake Morris, Sean Kenneally, Craig Morgan, Seamus Kennedy all 0-1 each.

Galway: Evan Niland (0-10, 0-9f), Conor Cooney 0-5, Tom Monaghan, Conor Whelan, Gavin Lee 0-2 each, Donal O’Shea, Cianan Fahy, Sean Linnane all 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Barry Hogan; Craig Morgan, Ronan Maher, Michael Breen; Conor Bowe, Robert Byrne, Bryan O’Mara; Willie Connors, Seamus Kennedy; Gearoid O’Connor, John McGrath, Alan Tynan; Sean Kenneally, Jake Morris, Sean Ryan.

Subs used: Johnny Ryan for O’Mara (16, inj); Mark Kehoe for Morris (22, inj); Billy Seymour for S Ryan (51); Darragh Stakelum for Tynan (61); Patrick Maher for D Stakelum (64, temp sub); Conor Stakelum for Kenneally (68).

Galway: Darach Fahy; TJ Brennan, Padraic Mannion, Jack Grealish; Cianan Fahy, Shane Cooney, Donal O’Shea, Gavin Lee; Tom Monaghan, Evan Niland, Joseph Cooney; Conor Whelan, Conor Cooney, Jason Flynn.

Subs used: Darren Morrissey for Brennan (24); Sean Linnane for Glennon (35, temp sub); Daithi Burke for Glennon (HT); Sean Linnane for S Cooney (44); Jamie Ryan for J Cooney (51).

Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork)