GALWAY SENT OUT a championship warning when they hammered Kilkenny by 15 points in front of a crowd of 10,489 at Pearse Stadium.
Kilkenny, who suffered their worst defeat in 74 years when Galway beat them by 18 points in the league at the Salthill venue six weeks ago, were expected to hit back but instead got another drubbing from the Tribesmen.
Fourteen Galway players hit the target even though Cathal Mannion, who has been their main scorer in recent years, didn’t raise a flag, but was responsible for setting up several scores.
TJ Reid, their 38-year-old captain, carried the fight for Kilkenny but they were outclassed in just about every position at a venue where they have not won a league or championship match since 2009.
Galway won the toss and opted to play against the strong breeze in the opening half and were in a very strong position by the break when they led by 2-8 to 0-9 despite shooting eight wides to two for the reigning champions.
Jason Rabbitte hammers home a goal. Leah Scholes / INPHO
Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO
The Galway half-back line of Padraic Mannion, Daithi Burke, making his 100th appearance for the county, and Gavin Lee dominated.
Indeed, Mannion and Lee went forward to get the opening scores before TJ Reid got the Cats off the mark after eight minutes with the first of his five points in the first half, four of them from frees.
He helped them lead by 0-5 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter but Kilkenny were struggling to make the breeze count and came off second best in a lot of the challenges.
Jason Rabbitte, one of four championship debutants for Galway, cut the gap and another one new to this level Aaron Nilan kept them in touch with a couple of frees.
They then took over and outscored Kilkenny by 2-3 to 0-2 in the closing eleven minutes of the opening half with Rory Burke edging Galway in front when he collected a low pass on the left wing from Tiernan Killeen and peeled away from Paddy Deegan before smashing to the net after 25 minutes.
He got a second goal from a penalty eight minutes later after Niland was brought down as he bore down on a goal which earned Mikey Carey a black card.
Cian Daniels, another championship debutant, and Burke added points, while at the other end Darach Fahy denied Eoin Cody and Daithi Burke saved the rebound after Gearoid Dunne, a late replacement, had earlier had an effort smothered as he bore down on goal.
Kilkenny suffered another huge blow just after the restart when John Donnelly was red-carded for a high challenge on Galway captain Darren Morrissey.
That killed off any notion of a Kilkenny comeback and the game was over as a contest when Rabbitte soloed through to finish in style to the back of the net to make it 3-12 to 0-12 after 48 minutes.
TJ Reid pulled back a goal from a penalty when Cody was fouled after 60 minutes but Kilkenny only managed three points after that as Galway, despite Whelan picking up a second yellow in the dying moments, pushed on to hit them for nine points in that time with five of their six substitutes scoring on a day when four of their starting defenders also hit the target.
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Lightning strikes twice as Galway hammer Kilkenny to start Leinster campaign
Galway 3-25
Kilkenny 1-16
GALWAY SENT OUT a championship warning when they hammered Kilkenny by 15 points in front of a crowd of 10,489 at Pearse Stadium.
Kilkenny, who suffered their worst defeat in 74 years when Galway beat them by 18 points in the league at the Salthill venue six weeks ago, were expected to hit back but instead got another drubbing from the Tribesmen.
Fourteen Galway players hit the target even though Cathal Mannion, who has been their main scorer in recent years, didn’t raise a flag, but was responsible for setting up several scores.
TJ Reid, their 38-year-old captain, carried the fight for Kilkenny but they were outclassed in just about every position at a venue where they have not won a league or championship match since 2009.
Galway won the toss and opted to play against the strong breeze in the opening half and were in a very strong position by the break when they led by 2-8 to 0-9 despite shooting eight wides to two for the reigning champions.
The Galway half-back line of Padraic Mannion, Daithi Burke, making his 100th appearance for the county, and Gavin Lee dominated.
Indeed, Mannion and Lee went forward to get the opening scores before TJ Reid got the Cats off the mark after eight minutes with the first of his five points in the first half, four of them from frees.
He helped them lead by 0-5 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter but Kilkenny were struggling to make the breeze count and came off second best in a lot of the challenges.
Jason Rabbitte, one of four championship debutants for Galway, cut the gap and another one new to this level Aaron Nilan kept them in touch with a couple of frees.
They then took over and outscored Kilkenny by 2-3 to 0-2 in the closing eleven minutes of the opening half with Rory Burke edging Galway in front when he collected a low pass on the left wing from Tiernan Killeen and peeled away from Paddy Deegan before smashing to the net after 25 minutes.
He got a second goal from a penalty eight minutes later after Niland was brought down as he bore down on a goal which earned Mikey Carey a black card.
Cian Daniels, another championship debutant, and Burke added points, while at the other end Darach Fahy denied Eoin Cody and Daithi Burke saved the rebound after Gearoid Dunne, a late replacement, had earlier had an effort smothered as he bore down on goal.
Kilkenny suffered another huge blow just after the restart when John Donnelly was red-carded for a high challenge on Galway captain Darren Morrissey.
That killed off any notion of a Kilkenny comeback and the game was over as a contest when Rabbitte soloed through to finish in style to the back of the net to make it 3-12 to 0-12 after 48 minutes.
TJ Reid pulled back a goal from a penalty when Cody was fouled after 60 minutes but Kilkenny only managed three points after that as Galway, despite Whelan picking up a second yellow in the dying moments, pushed on to hit them for nine points in that time with five of their six substitutes scoring on a day when four of their starting defenders also hit the target.
Scorers for Galway: Aaron Niland 0-8 (6f), Rory Burke 2-2, Jason Rabbitte 1-1, Darragh Neary 0-2, Conor Cooney 0-2, Ronan Glennon 0-2, Padraic Mannion 0-1, Gavin Lee 0-1, Conor Whelan 0-1, Cian Daniels 0-1, Daithi Burke 0-1, Colm Molloy 0-1, Tom Monaghan 0-1, Evan Niland 0-1 (f).
Scorers for Kilkenny: TJ Reid 1-8 (1-0p, 7f), Eoin Cody 0-3, Jordan Molloy 0-1, Liam Moore 0-1, Timmy Clifford 0-1, Cian Kenny 0-1, Stephen Donnelly 0-1.
Galway
1 Darach Fahy (Ardrahan)
2 Ronan Glennon (Mullagh)
3 Cillian Trayers (Turloughmore)
4 Darren Morrissey (Sarsfields)
5 Padraic Mannion (Ahascragh Fohenagh)
6 Daithí Burke (Turloughmore)
7 Gavin Lee (Clarinbridge)
8 Cian Daniels (Tommy Larkins)
9 Tiernan Killeen (Loughrea)
10 Rory Burke (Oranmore-Maree)
11 Cathal Mannion (Ahascragh Fohenagh)
12 John Fleming (Meelick Eyrecourt)
13 Jason Rabbitte (Athenry)
14 Conor Whelan (Kinvara)
15 Aaron Niland (Clarinbridge)
Subs:
17 Kieran Hanrahan (Loughrea) for Morrissey (36)
23 Tom Monaghan (Craughwell) for Fleming (43)
22 Darragh Neary (Castlegar) for Rabbitte (57)
24 Colm Molloy (Kilnadeema Leitrim) for Niland (59)
25 Conor Cooney (St Thomas’) for Trayers (61)
26 Evan Niland (Clarinbridge) for R Burke (67)
Kilkenny
1 Aidan Tallis (Lisdowney)
2 Mikey Butler (O’Loughlin Gaels)
3 Mikey Carey (Young Irelands)
4 Paddy Deegan (O’Loughlin Gaels)
5 David Blanchfield (Bennettsbridge)
6 Darragh Corcoran (Shamrocks Ballyhale)
7 Richie Reid (Shamrocks Ballyhale)
8 Cian Kenny (James Stephens)
9 Jordan Molloy (O’Loughlin Gaels)
10 Liam Moore (Dicksboro)
11 John Donnelly (Thomastown)
23 Gearoid Dunne (Tullaroan)
13 Mossy Keoghan (Tullaroan)
14 TJ Reid (Shamrocks Ballyhale) (c)
15 Eoin Cody (Shamrocks Ballyhale)
Subs:
22 Timmy Clifford (Dicksboro) for Dunne (half-time)
20 Killian Doyle (Emeralds) for Molloy (48)
25 Ed McDermott (James Stephens) for Keoghan (50)
18 Rory Garrett (Fenians) for R Reid (53)
24 Stephen Donnelly (Thomastown) for Moore (61)
Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).
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