Sizzling Shane Walsh inspires Galway to victory over Donegal in Salthill gale

Galway maintained their unbeaten start to the Allianz League as Shane Walsh turned on a masterclass of shooting to bring Donegal's winning start to an end at Pearse Stadium despite playing two periods with just 13 men.

Galway’s Matthew Tierney was red-carded just before the interval and Daniel O’Flaherty and Finnian O Laoi were black-carded during the second half but Galway did enough to carve out a 0-21 to 0-14 win.

The Tribesmen laid the foundation for victory when they had the strong wind in the opening half and then did more than enough after the restart to contain Donegal despite the numerical disadvantage.

Galway, aided by the very strong wind, led by 0-17 to 0-01 at the interval having kicked seven two-pointers with Walsh leading the way.

Walsh went into the contest as the top two-point scorer in Division 1 with eight efforts and he added another four in the opening half, three of them from play in an exhibition of shooting.

He got his first inside two minutes followed by similar efforts from Tierney and goalkeeper Conor Flaherty, one of three late changes for Galway which also included the withdrawal of Footballer of the Year Paul Conroy.

Michael Murphy was also missing from the Donegal squad with selector Neil McGee confirming beforehand that the 35-year old, who made his return last weekend for the first time since 2022, is following a detailed plan which will probably see him return to action next week.

Galway used the wind well and the strength of the wind was apparent when an Oisin Gallen effort after ten minutes came back into play just when it seemed to be going over the bar.

Walsh got his second two-pointer with a sublime effort from 50 metres on the right to lead by 0-08 to 0-00 after 12 minutes, before Rob