Corofin rally to Galway’s cause as footballers achieve important win

Inside Track with John McIntyre

Kevin Walsh must possess significant powers of persuasion. Just three weeks out from their upcoming All-Ireland Club football semi-final, the Galway supremo managed to cajole a couple of Corofin players into lining out for the county in the opening round of the National League at Pearse Stadium last Sunday.

The reality over the years has been to leave Corofin’s top players alone – the standard practice in all affected counties – in their now nearly annual pursuit of All-Ireland glory. Anyway, most clubs in such situations don’t take too kindly to pressure to make their top players available for National League football and hurling matches.

Obviously, Walsh’s desire to strengthen his hand for the visit of Corofin would have counted for little if the reigning All-Ireland champions were in no mood to release their players, but credit to the club for rallying to the cause and there is no doubt that having Liam Silke and Ian Burke on board in Salthill did help Galway to get over the line.

Missing a heap of regulars for a variety of reasons, Walsh still had to dig deep into his squad even if the five changes before throw-in to the announced team did make Galway look significantly stronger. Mind you, for much of the first half, it was a struggle for the men in maroon in an encounter which typified the regrettable modern-day Gaelic football phenomenon of massed defending.

Galway had only two points on the board after 23 minutes – one coming from the lively Padraic Cunningham and the other from Peter Cooke – as Cavan enjoyed greater territory and possession. Though they registered some fine points from Jack Brady and Conor Madden, too many other scoring attempts dropped short or went wide.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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