Henry Shefflin believes Galway ‘have a lot to do’ for Kilkenny showdown after victory over Carlow

Galway did enough at the Salthill venue to see off Carlow but Shefflin knows it won’t be enough for them to get revenge on a Cats side who defeated them in the last two Leinster finals.

“It was job done, no more than that and obviously we have a lot to do in the week leading up to next week’s game,” said Shefflin. “It’s a massive game and I think the players know themselves that if they perform like this it will not be good enough.

“We know Kilkenny, All-Ireland finalists last year, league finalists this year and we know what Kilkenny will bring and we know we have to be really at it. But I’m hoping the players will put that performance out of their heads now and we will look forward because it is such a big game and hopefully there will be a big crowd.”

The introduction of captain Conor Whelan, making his way back from injury, helped Galway get over the line in front of less than 2,000 at Pearse Stadium after Carlow had cut the gap to four points.

Whelan produced a typically frenzied cameo. He struck three points, had a goal disallowed, set up another one and was involved in a handful of other scores as Galway pulled away.

Galway led by 1-14 to 0-9 at the break after eight players found the target. Their two championship debutants John Cooney — the latest from the famed Sarsfields family — and Donal O’Shea — son of coach and former Tipperary manager Eamon — combined for Cathal Mannion to set up Gavin Lee and the Clarinbridge clubman crowned his first championship start with a goal after just two minutes.

Carlow, who had got off the mark after just 18 seconds from Ciaran Whelan, responded with efforts from Marty Kavanagh and John Michael Nolan and they stayed with Galway for most of the opening quarter.

Kavanagh, who scored three from play in an opening half total of 0-6, did most for the Carlow cause, but Galway bossed all the key positions and the scores started to flow.

Conor Cooney hit three from play along with a couple of frees before the break while Cathal Mannion, operating in a two-man full-forward with the returning Declan McLoughlin, struck three points as Galway outscored Carlow by 0-8 to 0-3 from the 22nd minute to the interval.

Carlow outscored Galway by 0-5 to 0-4 in the opening 16 minutes of the second-half before Conor Kehoe cut the gap to 1-18 to 1-14 when he sent a rebound to the net after goalkeeper Darach Fahy had saved from Kavanagh.

The Galway response was good and they hit 1-7 without reply in the next 13 minutes to kill off any notion of a shock result. Conor Cooney, who finished with 1-10, 1-5 of it from play, became only the second Galway player to surpass 200 points in championship hurling after Joe Canning when he found the net after 56 minutes after good work from Whelan and Mannion.

“When Carlow got the goal our lads responded very well and those five minutes after that was probably our best patch of hurling and the game was probably put to bed at that stage,” added Shefflin.

“Carlow were playing very well at that stage and that was the concern and we felt there could be a shock on the cards at that stage but I think the lads responded very well.”

Carlow kept plugging away and got a second goal when Jon Nolan finished a rebound to the net after Fahy saved a penalty from Kavanagh in the dying moments of the game.

Scorers – Galway: C Cooney 1-10 (0-3 f, 0-2’65), G Lee 1-2, C Mannion 0-3, C Whelan 0-3, T Monaghan 0-2, D O’Shea 0-1, D McLoughlin 0-1, A Tuohey 0-1, R Glennon 0-1, E Niland 0-1. Carlow: M Kavanagh 0-8 (0-5 frees), J Nolan 1-1, C Kehoe 1-0, C Nolan 0-2, C Whelan 0-1, JM Nolan 0-1, T Lawlor 0-1.

Galway: D Fahy 7; J Grealish 6, F Burke 7, P Mannion 6; S Linnane 6, A Tuohey 7, Daithí Burke 7; R Glennon 6, D O’Shea 8; G Lee 8, T Monaghan 6, John Cooney 7; C Mannion 7, C Cooney 9, D McLoughlin 6. Subs: E Niland 7 for Monaghan (49), C Whelan 8 for McLoughlin (49), D Morrissey 6 for Linnane (58), David Burke 6 for Glennon (58), Joseph Cooney 6 for Tuohey (62).

Carlow: B Tracey 6; P Doyle 6, D Wall 6, K McDonald 6; J Kavanagh 7, N Bolger 6, T Lawlor 6; R Coady 7, F Fitzpatrick 7; JM Nolan 6, C Whelan 6, J Nolan 7; M Kavanagh 8, C Nolan 6, C Kehoe 7. Subs: J McCullagh 6 for J Kavanagh (60), P Boland 6 for Kehoe (62), F O’Toole 6 for Whelan (65), S Treacy 6 for C Nolan (68), Jake Doyle 6 for JM Nolan (69).

Referee: Sean Stack (Dublin).