Galway’s mixed bag not enough to preserve unbeaten run

Tyrone 1-11

Galway 1-9

 THE scoreline is perhaps a little misleading. Galway deserve huge credit for rescuing this National Football League Division Two second round clash from the category of ‘lost causes’ with a rousing finale.

They’ll certainly take heart from it for the remainder of the campaign. Outscoring the Northerners 1-3 to no reply in the closing stages . . . cutting the deficit from eight points to two . . . and almost sneaking a result . . . it was encouraging stuff.

But this wasn’t a two-point game. And you can’t argue with any sincerity that this was a match Galway had left behind them either. True, they could have snatched it at the death but the reality is Tyrone, All-Ireland semi-finalists last year, are a little further down the road in terms of their development and evolution.

The Ulstermen deserved the victory, which even at this early stage puts them in the driving seat in pursuit of promotion to the top tier. Mickey Harte’s charges appeared physically bigger and stronger men and they were punishing in the tackle.

They hunted in packs and attacked in waves. Up front they had a bit more of an edge. And by springing Seán Cavanagh from the bench in the second half, and with substitute Lee Brennan firing over three points, Tyrone flaunted their strength in depth.

Galway supporters were left wondering what might have been had the Tribesmen been more consistent throughout. They had an encouraging start, and finished both halves well, but will be disappointed that they drifted out of it during large chunks of both halves when Tyrone exerted dominance. Galway scored a late trio of points before the break, which left them just four points in arrears, 0-5 to 1-6 at half-time.

It was manageable, especially with the strong wind and rain at their backs in the second half. The late flurry of scores at the end of the game also put a gloss on things. But on the overall balance of play, Tyrone were much the better team that were more suited to the wintery conditions.

A big turning point was the early shower for Paul Conroy. The Galway midfielder was shown a black card and then red in the seventh minute after the restart, having received a yellow earlier on.

Full match report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.