3 - 2

Darragh Curley (2)

Dave Kennedy

Thomas Clarke

Rob Ryan

Galway Mens team held off a determined Limerick Hockey Club side to bag 3 points in their opening fixture of Munster Division 2 yesterday in Mervue. The newly promoted side started much livelier than Galway, who struggled to hold onto any meaningful possession in the early exchanges. Limerick deployed the aerial ball to good effect throughout the first half with the Galway defence finding it difficult to cope with the pace and movement of the Limerick forwards. Galway's back four of Dave Wall, Andrew Kinsella, Cian O'Sullivan and Mark O'Connor were resolute though. Limerick eventually found a breakthrough about 20 minutes in, from open play. A simple passing move undid the Galway defence and the ball broke to Limerick's Thomas Clarke who confidently slotted the ball past young Artur Leonowicz in the Galway goal. Galway's midfield began to gain the upper hand with Feregal Keaveney and Darragh Curley linking up well with the forwards led by the experienced Michael Nichols. Galway piled pressure on a well drilled Limerick defence. Galway won numerous short corners towards the latter part of the first half but couldn't convert their chances. Good work from Darragh Curley down the right led to Galway's equalizer, rounding the Limerick keeper and setting-up Dave Kennedy who finished well. The teams went in level at one goal a piece at half time.

The second half possession was dominated by the home side who again had plenty of short corners. One of those shorts was converted when the ball broke to Darragh Curley who beat the Limerick keeper at the near post. A few minutes later Darragh Curley rounded the keeper and pulled the ball back to Michael Nichols whose low shot was controversially stopped on the line by a foot. Galway's shouts for a penalty stroke were turned down although the ball had clearly hit a defenders foot on the line. Galway defence put themselves under unnecessary pressure turning over possession too easliy in a nervy spell for the home side. Foolish short corners were conceded by Galway with some horrendous tackling. Limerick levelled the match once more when they converted one of their short corners with a straight hit from Rob Ryan beating the Galway keeper. Galway didn't let their heads drop though and continued to dominate the possesion and found openings in the Limerick defence as they searched for the winning goal. With about 10 minutes left on the clock Galway were rewarded for their determination and resolve by winning another short corner. Darragh Curley scored a carbon copy of his first goal earlier in the half beating the keeper at his near post again. The match was played in a tense atmosphere with lots of hard tackles but tensions eventually boiled over. In a bizarre few minutes towards the end of the match an experienced Limerick player was shown a yellow card, he reacted and became abusive and threatening towards one of the umpires and was subsequently shown a red card. Both team captains were warned about the conduct of their players by the umpires. It was unfortunate that a very competitive game of hockey was marred by this incident in the dying moments. The events had a negative effect on the visitors and Galway were comfortable on the ball for the rest of the game. Galway held the possesion well for the remaining minutes of the match and came out 3-2 victors in the end. Good performances from Galway's the rock solid centre midfielder Fergal Keaveney and skillful right midfielder Darragh Curley and his Man of the Match performance helped Galway claim the three points. Darragh Curley's impressive return to Galway Hockey Club from his four years at UCD has alleviated some of the headaches that Galway captain, Dave Wall, had been facing with goalscoring threat Mike Tighe out injured for the next few months. Overall a good performance by the team but the Galway's defence would need to be tighter when they come up against a more formidable set of strikers. The result puts Galway in third place in Division 2 behind Church 3rds and Church 4ths at this early stage of the season.

Results in Division 2:

Galway 3 (D Curley (2), D Kennedy) Limerick 2 (T Clarke, R Ryan);

Belvedere 2 (R O’Dell, P Desmond) Cork C of I C 8 (N Burns 4, P Creighton 3, N Foot);

Cork C of I D 4 (A Wilson, L Gardiner, B Hayden, J Jeffrey) Bandon C 1 (J Kingston)