KEVIN WALSH GOT his league campaign as Galway boss off to a great start today in Pearse Stadium as they had four points to spare over Meath.
Galway bounced back from last week’s FBD league final loss to Roscommon, where they conceded four goals, and produced a much better defensive showing today against the Royals.
Danny Cummins bagged a first-half goal to help Galway lead 1-6 to 0-5 at the break. At one stage Galway were in front 1-5 to 0-1 during the first-half but Meath pegged them back with points from the likes of Michael Newman and goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke.
In the second-half Meath cut the gap to 1-9 to 0-9 but were then rocked when Shane Walsh raised another green flag for Galway. Despite Jamie Queeney’s late consolation goal for Meath, Galway held on for a fully-deserved victory with Cummins (1-3), Walsh (1-3) and Eddie Hoare (0-2), their key sources for scores on the day.
Elsewhere in Kiltoom, Cavan and Roscommon couldn’t be separated as a last-gasp Martin Reilly point rescued a draw for Terry Hyland’s Cavan team.
A first-half goal by Enda Smith gave Roscommon a great start and they were in front by 1-5 to 0-6 at the interval before Cavan pegged them back. Smith pointed after the restart to stretch Roscommon’s lead before four wonderful points from Gearoid McKiernan propelled Cavan back into contention.
Roscommon, who were aided by Diarmuid and Ciaran Murtagh scoring 0-9 between them, looked to have won it through Donal Smith before Dunne popped over the ’45 to ensure a share of the spoils between the two teams that were newly promoted to Division 2 football this year.
Results
Division 2 football league
Galway 2-13 Meath 1-12
Cavan 0-14 Roscommon 1-11