A low-key start to Galway’s National League campaign

IT’S yet another low-key opener to Galway’s National League campaign as they face Joe McDonagh outfit Westmeath in their opening round tie at Cusack Park, Mullingar on Saturday (2pm).

The tie, which is televised by TG4, is the first competitive GAA game to be played in 2021 and, although supporters still cannot attend due to the ongoing pandemic, the opportunity to watch the game live will appeal to fans and neutrals alike.

That said, it’s difficult to see anything other than a comprehensive Galway victory, given that when the sides met at the same stage of the competition last year, Galway recorded a 1-24 to 0-10 victory over Westmeath at Pearse Stadium.

Joe Canning tallied 12 points, 10 from placed balls, and Tadhg Haran, who is no longer involved, shot six points. The game’s only goal was scored by Conor Whelan in the opening half.

Killian Doyle was Westmeath’s biggest contributor with seven points, all frees, but, since then, former Galway forward Davy Glennon has joined a Westmeath set-up that also includes Meelick/Eyrecourt coach Noel Larkin, who was a key part of Micheal Donoghue’s 2017 All-Ireland winning management team.

Galway, who were as close than any other team to stopping the Limerick juggernaut in 2020, will most likely have a changed line-out from the side that faced the Lake County last time out, given Haran, Thomas Monaghan, Jack Grealish and Paul Killeen, all who featured that day, are no longer in the squad.

In addition, Sean Linnane, one of the standout players of last year’s county championship, is understood to be injured. His club-mate Conor Walsh is also believed to be on the treatment table.

This match, though, may be an opportunity for O’Neill to look at a number of other players who got very little game-time in the Galway jersey due to the pandemic disrupting the fixtures calendar in 2020.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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