Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, Round Three
Galway 6-27 Antrim 1-14
A LOOK at the final score suggests a long afternoon for Antrim under the baking Salthill sun and it was with the Tribesmen romping to a 28-point win.
Going into this game, Davy Fitzgerald's men were seeking a performance and for long periods of the first half they got it, but two Galway goals late in the half from Brian Concannon and Anthony Burns, followed by a red card for Declan McCloskey ended their challenge.
With a player short in such conditions, Antrim's challenge ended there and then with Galway powering home as they ran up the score, which could well be important in the race for a place in the Leinster final.
Antrim were light in attack as they were beset with injuries and this day was an opportunity for some of the younger panel members to test themselves, but in the end it was another harsh lesson, but one that came with the caveat of that red card according to Fitzgerald who felt that a red ought to have been shown to Galway's Tom Monaghan during the same incident.
"If it's a sending off, it's a sending off by two (both players)," he said, also suggesting there were other issues his players were on the end of, which were reported to the referee.
"I had him distraught at half-time. He said, 'I got a punch in the stomach, I reacted, but I got a punch in the stomach'.
"Johnny Murphy (linesman) made that decision and to say he didn't see it, it's not good enough.
"Would we have won the game? Definitely not. We weren't good enough today, but I think it absolutely destroyed whatever chance we had.
"Did we match them for the 20, 25 minutes? We did, yeah, but the game was over after that. We were too loose at the back. Galway were far better than us, but to be honest, it was too easy for Galway. I wouldn't be happy with the way we applied ourselves in the second half.
"Do the lads work harder for me? They do. Have they got beaten like that before? They have, but I don't accept that, and I'll be telling them that.
"I'm not happy with the way we were in that second half. I think we could have gone at it harder. We can make all the excuses, missing six of our forwards, but we still have 15 bodies on the field, and we still should be going at it. So no excuses for us. We weren't good enough, and that's the thing and we have to look at ourselves. Is there one or two issues outside it? Yeah, but that's for other people to deal with. We have to look at ourselves."
Declan McCloskey is shown red 
Aided by the breeze, Antrim made a good start with Joseph McLaughlin scoring from a free and play before Conor Cooney responded with two of his own.
Niall O'Connor restored the Antrim lead briefly when taking the short poc-out and thumping over from deep before Conor Cooney got himself off the mark from a free.
The wides began to mount for Antrim as some great opportunities for scores drifted off target, while Galway had no such issues as Tom Monaghan got two, while Darren Morrissey and a Cooney free gave the hosts a three-point lead in a fairly pedestrian opening period.
Points from McLaughlin and Eoin O'Neill narrowed the gap, but another three from Galway by Monaghan, Cooney and Kevin Cooney gave Galway a gap.
Still, Antrim hung in and were just three back with 30 gone, but Galway enjoyed a superb run to the break, out-scoring Antrim by 2-3 to 0-1 with their first goal coming when a ball broke out to Brian Concannon who brilliantly swivelled and buried.
The second came five minutes later as Anthony Burns got onto a Sean Linnane delivery to bury and it weould get worse for Antrim in added time as Declan McCloskey was shown a straight red for an off-the-ball swipe on Monaghan as Galway went in at the half with a very healthy 2-13 to 0-8 lead.
After Cooney and Cormac McKeown swapped early points after the restart, Galway went for the jugular to put the game away and did so with another two goals in three minutes.
First off, a fine move saw Anthony Burns pop into Concannon for his second goal and then they reversed roles with Burns the beneficiary of a Concannon pass to drill home his second to remove any doubt, if there was any remaining, that the points were going to Galway who now led 4-17 to 0-9.
What little sting that was in this game was now gone as COoney continued to build his own tally to 11, while Tom Monaghan's fine day saw him finish with six from play, while Ronan Glennon chipped in with two from midfield.
McLaughlin kept the board just about ticking for Antrim with Gerard Walsh also landing three frees, but Galway were not for taking their foot off the gas and they got their fifth goal in the 62nd minute as Concannon laid on another, this time for substitute Dylan McLaughlin to whip home.
Antrim would also find the net as substitute Niall McGarrell finished from a rebound after Paul Boyle's initial effort was saved, but straight away, Galway hit back in kind through Kevin Cooney. Injury time points from McLaughlin and Sean Linnane wrapped up a fine afternoon for Galway, while Antrim now target next week's must-win away to Offaly.
Conall Bohill tracks Conor Cooney 
"I still want more fight than what I had in the second half, and I believe there is more fight in us than that. I think it took the wind out of our sails that sending-off," Fitzgerald added.
"If you look at some of our games that we've got beaten, and it's something like that that affects us, and we have to get over that. Whether it's a bad decision or not, we can't let it affect us.
"We missed a lot of scores in the first 25 minutes and I thought once the send-off came, we were in trouble. Eight wides playing with that breeze, you need to be taking them.
GALWAY: D Fahy; J Ryan, F Burke, D Morrissey (0-1); S Linnane (0-1), G Lee, TJ Brennan; C Fahy, R Glennon (0-2); T Monaghan (0-6), K Cooney (1-1), C Cooney (0-11, 9f); C Whelan (0-2), B Concannon (2-0), A Burns (2-2).
Subs: J Grealish for F Burke (35), D Loftus for D Morrissey (HT), M Garvey for G Lee (42), J Cooney for C Whelan (42), D McLaughlin (1-1) for C Fahy (57)
ANTRIM: R Elliott; S Rooney, N O'Connor (0-1), P Burke; D McCloskey, C Boyd, C Bohill; G Walsh (0-3f), E Campbell; R McCambridge, N Elliott, S McKay; C McKeown (0-1), E O'Neill (0-2), J McLaughlin (0-7, 6f).
Subs: E McFerran for S Rooney (21), S Walsh for N Elliott (HT), P Boyle for R McCambridge (52), N McGarrell (1-0) for J McLaughlin (55), A McGarry for E O'Neill (70)
REFEREE: Thomas Gleeson (Dublin)
