Galway fail to measure up in crunch league tie

CAVAN 1-16

GALWAY 1-12

THE effort was decent and honest but in the end Galway footballers fell a good bid short of the mark in their bid to return to Division One against a Cavan team that was stronger in most of the key positions on the pitch.

Four points separated the teams in the end – it could have been more and rather strangely it could have been less too – as Galway desperately probed for a late goal that would have put their noses in front at a vital juncture of the final quarter.

Objectively though – and using any standard barometer of fairness – it would have been a travesty had Cavan not won this Division Two encounter before an enthusiastic home crowd of around 5,000 in the impressive bowl that is Kingspan/Breffni Park.

Terry Hyland’s side were stronger in almost all of the key central positions . . . they always fought that bit harder to win the ‘dirty ball’ and especially so around the fringes of midfield . . . while critically they held a key edge in terms of attacking threat from start to finish.

Galway did enjoy one early window of dominance through the first 15 minutes when they edged into a 1-4 to 1-1 lead but from there on, Cavan were largely in control of this game and probably shouldn’t have been sweating as much in the final 10 minutes when Kevin Walsh’s charges pressed for a late goal strike.

For the final 20 minutes of that first half, Galway didn’t raise a white flag and they didn’t get a point from play through the closing 26 minutes of the opening period – during that spell, Cavan controlled possession and the match.

Despite all that, Galway went in at the interval just three points down on 1-8 to 1-5 – with the breeze and driving rain behind them in the second half, they were not without hope, although Cavan should have been a lot further ahead.

Cavan matched their nine first half scores with an equal number of wides while at the other end Galway had no misses. That 9-0 wides tally in favour of the home team tells its own tale of possession domination.

Galway started without the injured Fiontán Ó Curraoin with Tom Flynn moving from wing forward to partner Paul Conroy in midfield but across that sector right through the second quarter, Cavan ruled the roost.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.