Late flurry helps sluggish Galway escape to victory

NEVER underestimate the bite of the underdog: that was the lesson from last weekend's opening round in Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League.

Offaly's sacking of an admittedly understrength Dublin raised plenty of eyebrows on Saturday night. Antrim, less than 24 hours later, came close to trumping them with what would have taken topping as the result of the spring never mind the weekend.
Galway were flat and off-colour but eventually got got the bit between the teeth and the job done by scoring seven of the closing eight points, their bench playing no small part in overtaking an Antrim side that stayed the course for an hour until the All-Ireland champions finally upped the tempo.
Everything, of course, comes with an asterisk that Micheál Donoghue and his panel are in the very early stages of preparations for the serious business of 2018 and understandably well behind the chasing pack in terms of work done.

Read our full coverage in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald