Galway prove too strong for 14-man Antrim in Belfast

Galway are back to winning ways in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, but were made to work for it at a sunny Corrigan Park on Saturday.

The dismissal of Antrim's Ryan McGarry three minutes into the second half proved the turning point as the hosts, who held a one-point advantage at that stage, just couldn't recover.

At half-time the shock looked on as the Saffrons led by one and really should have been further ahead but for some poor shooting, but when they went to 14 and then Conor Cooney buried a penalty five minutes later, they could breathe a little easier as they put their defeat to Wexford a fortnight ago behind them.

That loss seemed to be hanging over them in Belfast as they failed to fire in the opening half, but then much of that was down to Antrim's efforts.

Both sides looked jittery from the off but there was a sense Galway were beginning to settle with Conor Cooney, Evan Niland and Conor Whelan all on target as they led 0-4 to 0-2 before they rattled the net on 10 minutes as Seán Linnane played a great ball into the stride of Gavin Lee who buried.

Cooney added a point, but Antrim, who were now settling themselves, began to sense all was not right with the visitors and began to get on top around the middle with Keelan Molloy and James McNaughton finding their range and then Michael Bradley cracking over the equaliser..

Padraic Mannion ended a barren 10 minutes for the Tribesmen, but Antrim were beginning to really fancy it and after McNaughton levelled from a free, they got the goal they deserved 29 minutes in as late replacement Rian McMullan played in Conal Bohill who found the corner of the net.

Galway temporarily came to life with scores from Niland and Whelan - the second after Ryan Elliott had made a