Galway did enough to wrap up their league campaign with a badly-needed victory after successive losses as they edged out Clare by 0-25 to 1-20 in the Allianz Hurling League at Pearse Stadium.
This was just a championship warm-up for both sides as neither could qualify for knockout stages or be relegated, and it proved a useful workout for Henry Shefflin and Brian Lohan ahead of next month's championship start.
The sides were level nine times in the opening half but Galway finished strongly to lead by 0-14 to 0-12 at the interval and they held an edge for most of the second-half.
The sides exchanged points four times in the opening 13 minutes before efforts from Cathal Malone and Ryan Taylor edged Clare 0-06 to 0-04 in front by the end of the opening quarter.
Galway hit back with points from Conor Cooney and Cianan Fahy to level the match after 20 minutes, with Cooney leading the way for Galway and, inevitably, Tony Kelly, doing most of the scoring for Clare, with the two marksmen hitting half a dozen points each in the opening half.
The sides continued to swap points and were deadlocked at 0-10 apiece five minutes from the break before Galway pulled ahead with points from Conor Whelan, Tom Monaghan, Cathal Mannion and Cooney, before Taylor and Shane Meehan hit back to reduce the margin to two by half-time.
Clare goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan, who denied Whelan with a superb save after 11 minutes in the opening half, did likewise after the restart, but Galway extended their lead when Cathal Mannion got his fourth point and Cooney tacked on another from placed balls to lead by 0-17 to 0-12 but Clare hit back and after David Fitzgerald pointed, Kelly blasted home a penalty after Ian Galvin was fouled to cut the gap to a point after 43 minutes.
Galway responded with the next four points but then Clare hit back and landed four in succession to leave it 0-21 to 1-17 with seven minutes left.
Cooney fired over a 65 and a free and Ronan Glennon got one from play as Galway pulled four clear. Two points from Kelly either side of an effort from Evan Niland and a fifth of the game for Ryan Taylor cut the gap to two but Clare never looked like getting a match-winning goal in the closing stages.
Galway: Eanna Murphy; Jack Grealish, Daithi Burke, Darren Morrissey; Tiernan Killeen, Gearoid McInerney, Padraic Mannion (0-01); Joseph Cooney, Ronan Glennon (0-01); Tom Monaghan (0-02), Conor Cooney (0-12, 7f, 2’65), Cianan Fahy (0-01); Cathal Mannion (0-05), Conor Whelan (0-02), Brian Concannon
Subs: Fintan Burke for Killeen (46), Shane Ryan for Morrissey (58), Gavin Lee for Concannon (60), Evan Niland (0-1) for Fahy (66), David Burke for Glennon (66).
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Mike Gough, Aaron Fitzgerald, Paul Flanagan; Jack Browne, John Conlon, David McInerney; Shane Golden, Jason McCarthy; Cathal Malone (0-01), David Fitzgerald (0-04), Ryan Taylor (0-05); Shane Meehan (0-01), Tony Kelly (1-09, 1-0pen, 6f, 2’65), Patrick Crotty.
Subs: Peter Duggan for Crotty (13), Ian Galvin for Crotty (half-time), Duggan for Golden (51), Robin Morrissey for Galvin (57), Rory Hayes for McInerney (63).
Referee: James Owens (Wexford).
