Chance is still there for Galway to be crowned Division 1 champions

Inside Track with John McIntyre

There is no sign yet of the GAA’s revamped inter-county fixtures schedule in response to the sporting chaos caused by Covid-19, but this is what we think is set to happen when the country’s top hurlers and footballers return to competitive action from mid-October.

That first weekend will see the second last round of National Football League matches going ahead, together with the All-Ireland U20 semi-finals – Galway are due to face Kerry – with the final series of group league ties scheduled for the weekend of October 25, along with the preliminary round of both the Munster and Leinster hurling championships.

Few anticipated that the GAA would attempt to conclude the football league given the much-reduced timeframe in which it has to operate in, but with promotion and relegation issues to be decided, the Association clearly doesn’t want any unfinished business from this year’s competition carrying over to the 2021 league campaigns.

This scenario may also have been influenced by the prospect of a straight knock-out system for this year’s All-Ireland football championship. Those two rounds of league games will be invaluable for teams trying to get up to speed for do-or-die contests and ensures they won’t be ‘stone cold’ for their championship debut.

This is all good news for Galway. Already, they were on the handy side of the draw in the Connacht championship as the Tribesmen had been due to kick off their summer season against New York last month before a semi-final collision with Sligo. But their trip to the Big Apple will not be re-fixed, leaving only the Yeats County barring Galway’s path to the provincial final.

There is also increasing speculation that the team which finishes top of Division 1 after the remaining two rounds are completed will be crowned National League champions. That would be some feather in Padraic Joyce’s cap, leading the county to a first triumph in the competition in nearly 40 years just months after taking over as team manager.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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