‘I’m sure they are not happy’ – Galway marksman Evan Niland under no illusions about test against a desperate Wexford

The Clarinbridge clubman produced a magnificent display of shooting after being sprung from the bench and helped secure a 2-23 to 0-29 draw against Kilkenny.

Niland took over the free-taking duties from Conor Cooney after coming on after 44 minutes and proceeded to land all six frees, most of them from distance, as well as hit one from play as Galway came from behind to snatch a draw against the Cats for the second year in a row in the Leinster round robin.

And though he was relieved to get the draw, he knows they face another searching test next weekend against a Wexford side fighting for survival after being ousted late by Antrim, having also been caught a week earlier when Dublin snatched a draw with two late goals.

“It’s going to be a very tough test,” said Niland. “Obviously, they went down to Antrim, and I’m sure they are not happy, and they will be gunning for us next week. It’s a tough place to go and we are under no illusion of what is ahead of us.”

Niland’s unerring accuracy from frees hauled Galway back into contention, but he played down his role.

“You are disappointed when you are not starting, so when you come on you want to make a difference, but it is not about me or any individual, it’s about the team. You have to do it every day and we’re looking forward now to next week against Wexford.

“It was a strong wind. It was hard enough to gauge it. Even though it was with us, it was taking the ball across the goal. It was a hard day.

“In the first half, we looked like we were going well and then we let Kilkenny back into it, but I thought we were unlucky to be four down at half-time.

“We were under a bit of pressure in the second half and we were chasing the game. We did come back and snatched a draw, but I suppose when you look at it, it feels a little like a loss to us. But it is only the second round and we will have a big test again next week and we just need to keep going game by game. It’s not going to be all rosy, and hopefully, we can do better.

Today's Sport News in 90 Seconds - 29th April

“We got some good scores at the end. Conor [Whelan] stood up with a great score to level us at the end, no more than Deccie [McLoughlin] did last year, which is a good sign of spirit, but you want to win every day you go out. But at least when we found ourselves in a situation, we found a way to get back in it and get the draw.”

Galway manager Henry Shefflin praised Niland for the impact he made when introduced at Pearse Stadium and said there is a lot more to him than just being an accurate free-taker.

“He's a very good free-taker, but he's a very good forward,” said Shefflin. “We just felt we needed something up front. To be fair to Evan, he's been performing very well and has been putting in a big shift in training over the last number of weeks.

"We've asked different things of his game and probably asked him to change things a little bit and he is doing that. He's a very good free-taker as well.”