The Tribeswomen have not been in action since late June, when they overcame Waterford in a top of the table clash in Kenny Park. That win booked their passage straight through into the semi-finals.
Scores were hard to come by in the opening quarter as the defence was on top on both sides but Carrie Dolan lead from the front slotting over three unanswered points through placed balls, one through a 45m free, to push Galway into a two-point lead by the 17th minute.
Points from Niamh Rockett were met with Galway scores through Niamh Mallon and Dolan. Two Annie Fitzgerald points either side of a Rockett free between the 24th and 28th minutes brought the sides back level again. Dolan and Fitzgerald swapped scores at the end of the half to leave the sides deadlocked at 0-7 a piece at the end of the half.
Galway knew that a draw would not be sufficient to get their direct route into the semi-finals and delivered a big second half to get over the line. Galway started brightly and lead by three points on 42 minutes. Rockett got Waterford's first score in 15 minutes through a placed ball a minute later but Mallon replied two minutes later to restore the three-point lead for Galway.
This would be their last score for 11 minutes as Waterford brought the sides level by the 56th minute. With their place in the final four on the line, Galway sparked into life in the final eight minutes with six unanswered points through Dolan (0-2 ), Aoife Donohue (0-2 ) and substitutes Ailish O’Reilly and Tegan Canning to give Galway a 0-17 to 0-11 win on the day.
Galway will be happy with the way in which they finished out the game. But improvements are needed as Galway relied a lot on Mallon and Dolan throughout the game for scores.
Throw-in for the All-Ireland semi-final between Galway and Tipperary is 3pm on Saturday, July 26. Cork take on Waterford afterwards at 5pm.
