New York 0-08 Galway 2-18
Galway overcame a tricky start to claim a comprehensive victory over New York in their Connacht SFC preminlinary round encounter at Gaelic Park.
It's been five years since New York gave Galway a major scare in the same venue and with 18 minutes gone there were fears that the visitors were in for another uncomfortable afternoon as they trailed 0-02 to 0-03 with two points from PJ Banville and one from Gary O'Driscoll giving the home side the lead.
However the Tribesmen soon found their rhythm and two quick-fire points from Damien Comer and a couple from Peadar Óg Ó Gríofa helped the visitors to a 0-09 to 0-04 lead at half-time.
Any hope that the home side had of staging an unlikely victory faded six minutes into the second-half when Gary O'Donnell played Shane Walsh in on goal and he obliged by finding the back of the net to raise the green flag.
Former Wexford man Banville reduced the deficit slightly with a point but Galway had found their stride by then and points from Ó Gríofa, Paul Conroy, Sean Denvir and Damien Comer helped extend their lead to 1-15 to 0-06.
Comer's goal in the 59th minute ended the game as a contest and while Banville tagged on a couple of late points for New York there was no way back for the exiles.
Galway: T Healy, J Duane, F Hanley, C Sweeney, L Silke (0-1), G O’Donnell, S Denvir (0-1), F Ó Curraoin (0-1), P Conroy (0-1), G Sice, S Walsh (1-4), E Hoare, P Ó Gríofa (0-4), D Comer (1-4), D Cummins (0-1)
Subs: P Varley for Denvir, T Flynn for Conroy, M Martin (0-1) for Sice, M Lundy for Hoare, A Varley for Comer.
New York: G Joyce, R McGinley, G McCartan, K Quinn, B Gibbons; K Scally, C Maginn, A Hope, B Connor, J Kelly, N McFeely, D Freeman, JJ Mathews (0-1), PJ Banville (0-7), G O'Driscoll.
Subs: K Moynagh for Maginn, G McCullagh for Hope, D Nation for Connor, E McPhillis for Kelly.
Very proud of our boys too. They were a credit to the County Board today!
— New York GAA (@NewYorkGAA) May 3, 2015