All the drama against Armagh can serve Galway well for tests ahead

Inside Track with John McIntyre

GIVEN the extraordinary events at Croke Park last Sunday, the Galway senior footballers must surely be the most united inter-county panel out there. It was an afternoon of highs and lows for Padraic Joyce’s team, but they did enough good things to prevail in an epic All-Ireland semi-final against Armagh.

Struggling early on with a four-week lay-off impacting on their sharpness before taking a grip on a high-tempo encounter in the second half, Galway has gone six points clear and were virtually out the gap by the 72nd minute. A few Armagh supporters had already departed the ground, accepting the seemingly inevitable end of a progressive summer journey.

Granted, there was still six minutes of stoppage time left but Galway were playing like winners, and, in fact, would add to their tally before the end with Damien Comer’s third point of the match. It still wasn’t enough to insulate them from a high-wire finale which saw two goals out of nothing and Rory O’Neill’s brilliant free salvaging a draw for Armagh.

The subsequent unsavoury scenes as the teams exited the field at the end of the game, an extra-time period which ebbed and flowed, and the penalty shoot-out drama ensured this was an afternoon when the rivals players must have experienced every emotion going. It was exciting and draining in almost equal measure.

Of course, Galway should have won the semi-final in normal time, but to be still standing after the brawl, extra-time and penalties must do wonders for their players’ state of mind. They committed a version of hari-kari with the concession of the three Armagh goals, but they never buckled; never gave up; never wilted.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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