A pathway to the All-Ireland football final has opened up for Tribesmen

Inside Track with John McIntyre

GALWAY hadn’t lost four consecutive Connacht football finals since 1910 and nobody was probably more aware of that than current team manager Padraic Joyce. As if the stakes weren’t high enough for the former multiple All-Star, he surely couldn’t bear the thought of unwanted history repeating itself under his watch.

Joyce referenced that statistic in the aftermath of Sunday’s comfortable provincial triumph. Though he knew it had been a progressive season for Galway so far, defeat to Roscommon at Pearse Stadium would nearly have taken all the good out of it. He was acutely aware that this was the game which counted the most of all.

In the end, Joyce had his big day in the sun as Galway team manager and it was a richly deserved success too. Bringing in Cian O’Neill as coach in 2022 has paid significant dividends as the Tribesmen continue an upwards march. And with Dublin and Kerry both in the other half of the draw, a pathway has now been opened to the All-Ireland final.

This is probably the best equipped Galway team we have seen in well over a decade. It mightn’t be a big claim to fame as the county has only reached a solitary All-Ireland semi-final since 2001, but outside of the big two, Joyce’s charges look the best of the rest. Mayo are not as good as they were and have injury woes; reigning champions Tyrone have a lot to prove after falling to Derry; while Donegal will struggle to regroup after losing last Sunday’s Ulster final.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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