A scoring burst of 2-03 early in the opening six minutes of the second-half paved the way for Cork to maintain their perfect start to the Allianz Hurling League when they won a cracking game by 4-24 to 3-22 at Pearse Stadium in Salthill.
Galway rallied from eleven points adrift in the closing stages to cut the gap to four but that was as close as they got as the Rebels backed up their opening round win over All-Ireland champions Limerick with another impressive victory.
The sides were deadlocked at 1-13 apiece at the end of a good opening half where Galway surged five points clear after 18 minutes before the Rebels responded with six points in a row to take the lead for the first time in perfect conditions in front of a crowd of 8,872 at the Salthill venue.
The sides exchanged points twice in the opening six minutes before two points from Evan Niland and one from debutant Martin McManus pushed Galway in front. Conor Lehane then blasted to the net for Cork after being set up by the impressive Declan Dalton to tie the sides at 0-05 to 1-02 after nine minutes.
Dalton was the outstanding figure for Cork, finishing with 0-08, six of them from play, as well as setting up several other scores for a rampant Cork side missing several key players.
Galway, also without many regulars, hit back and Kevin Cooney batted to the net after taking a pass from McManus and they followed up with a string of points to lead by 1-09 to 1-04 at the end of the opening quarter.
Cork hit back. Shane Barrett, one of three late replacements for the visitors - which included Patrick Horgan crying off with a shoulder injury - rattled the crossbar with a goal effort but Dalton, Cormac Beausang and Shane Kingston led the way with scores before Barrett edged them in front for the first time after 26 minutes when they led by 1-10 to 1-09.
Three more points from Niland and one from Kevin Cooney edged the Tribesmen in front but Cork rallied and went in level after efforts from Barrett, Kingston and Dalton.
Cork took control early after the break and inside six minutes they surged nine points in front after blitzing a hesitant Galway defence.
Twomey struck for his first goal within two minutes of the restart and before Galway had a chance to respond, Lahane blasted low to the net before points from Kingston, Barrett and Lehane pushed Cork 3-16 to 1-13 in front after 41 minutes.
Galway's problems were exacerbated when Oisin Salmon, making his first league start, picked up a second yellow card trying to prevent Twomey scoring, and Cork used the extra man for the remainder of the half quite well.
Galway responded with three points before Cork upped the pace again, striking four points in a row. They continued to hit back any time the Tribesmen threatened before Twomey raced through for his second goal and another point from Lehane left the Rebels ahead by 4-23 to 1-21 after 67 minutes.
Galway finished well with Loughrea’s McManus, who finished with 1-03, shooting to the net before Brian Concannon increased hopes of a late rally when he also found the net.
Galway had a chance to cut the gap further but deep into stoppage time Kevin Cooney’s penalty was saved by Cork goalkeeper Patrick Collins as they maintained their perfect start to the league despite fielding an understrength side.
Galway finished with 13 after Cathal Mannion went off with a hamstring injury with all subs used, while the Rebels lost corner-back Eoin Roche to a black card in the closing moments.
Cork: Patrick Collins; Conor O'Callaghan, Eoin Downey, Eoin Roche; Cormac O'Brien, Ciaran Joyce, Tommy O’Connell; Sam Quirke; Brian Roche; Declan Dalton (0-08, 0-02f), Conor Lehane (2-03), Sean Twomey (2-00); Cormac Beausang (0-01), Shane Barrett (0-04), Shane Kingston (0-06, 0-04f).
Subs: Luke Meade for Quirke (39), Brian Hayes (0-01) for Beausang (47), Conor Cahalane (0-01) for Barrett (55), Padraig Power for Kingston (57), Colin Walsh for Roche (68).
Galway: Darach Fahy; Jack Grealish, Gearóid McInerney, Oisin Salmon; Padraic Mannion (0-01), Joseph Cooney, Darren Morrissey; Gavin Lee, Seán Linnane; Tom Monaghan, Conor Whelan (0-02), Jason Flynn (0-01); Evan Niland (0-11, 0-08f), Kevin Cooney (1-01), Martin McManus (1-03).
Subs: Cianan Fahy (0-01) for Monaghan (half-time), Cathal Mannion (0-01) for Lee (44), Ronan Murphy for Morrissey (54), Brian Concannon (1-00) for Flynn (56), Liam Collins (0-01f) for Niland (66).
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
