Galway reel Clare in to get back on track

Galway got their Allianz Hurling League bid back on track after producing a 12-point turnaround against neighbours Clare in front of 6.190 at Cusack Park in Ennis

Staring down the possibility of an unprecedented third defeat in a row under Henry Shefflin, the visitors recovered from a 0-08 to 0-01 first quarter deficit to lower the arrears to the minimum by the break before snatching the whip hand in a dominant second period.

Conor Cooney was superb with five points from play, four of which came in an impressive new half that was level on four occasions before Galway finally put daylight between the sides entering the final quarter.

Conor Whelan's overlapping run was superbly picked out for a clinching 59th minute goal that put the Tribesmen seven clear at 1-21 to 0-17. Typifying their second half misfortunes, the lively David Reidy was agonisingly denied an instant reply when his shot on the turn cannoned off the post.

Clare did lessen the damage to three by the 65th minute, thanks in the main to David Fitzgerald but the home side were unable to sustain that momentum and would be outflanked by three of the last four points including an insurance point for the elusive Cooney.

It was all so different in the opening period when Aidan McCarthy (3) and Reidy (2) powered a razor-sharp Clare to a seven point cushion by the 14th minute. Once Galway smothered the middle third, Clare's supple line dried up and it was the visitors who began to settle seven of the next eight points, with Evan Niland (3) to the fore at 0-09 to 0-08.

A sea-saw finish ensured that only the slenderest of margins separated the sides by the break at 0-12 to 0-11 but it was wind-assisted Galway that moved swiftly through the gears as the second half developed