Cakewalk on the cards as Galway swing into action

GALWAY senior footballers begin the defence of their Connacht SFC title with what should be a routine quarter-final championship clash against London in Ruislip on Sunday (3pm).

If the teams’ respective National League campaigns are anything to go by, this should be a cakewalk for Galway. The Tribesmen were not far away from reaching the National League Division 1 final while London’s Division 4 form was atrocious as they finished rooted to the bottom of the table.

Of course, National League is not championship and London may look to previous Connacht championship outings to find their inspiration. In 2013, the Exiles defeated Sligo, 1-12 to 0-14, at the same stage of the competition before they saw off Leitrim, 2-11 to 1-13, in the Connacht semi-final.

However, when London met Mayo in the Connacht decider, they were annihilated 5-11 to 0-10. They suffered a similar fate a year on when they hosted Galway in the quarter-final in Ruislip; this time, Galway outgunned them 3-17 to 0-7. Shane Walsh, Micheal Martin and Danny Cummins were the victors’ goalscorers.

It is difficult to envisage anything other than the same outcome this Sunday, despite Galway’s on-going injury woes. Declan Kyne, Cillian McDaid, Ciaran Duggan and Peter Cooke are not expected to make their return to action until the end of May while Adrian Varley, Paul Conroy and captain Damien Comer are pencilled in to return in mid-June.

That said, Galway operated without many of these players throughout the National League and still they defeated Cavan, Monaghan, Mayo and Roscommon and came within a kick of the ball of beating Kerry at Tuam Stadium.

To this end, Shane Walsh led the lines extremely well, tallying 0-26 (0-18 frees), while a reinvigorated Danny Cummins and Johnny Heaney finished their campaigns with 4-4 (0-1 mark) and 1-10 respectively. One of the finds of the National League was An Spidéal’s Antaine Ó Laoi, who kicked 0-9 (0-3 frees).

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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