Defensive shutters must go up for visit of Armagh

RARELY if ever in the speckled history of Galway football has the county faced up to a championship game with such a light load of expectation as they do on Saturday evening at Pearse Stadium (5pm) in the third round of the qualifiers when they take on an Armagh side, also stuck with an under-achieving tag over recent years.

Strange things can happen in football and Galway manager Alan Mulholland will be desperately hoping that from somewhere his charges can retrieve a sense of confidence and purpose that has eluded them so far this year.

Galway have won two qualifying games, albeit against Tipperary and Waterford, but they struggled for long periods of both games against Division 4 opposition – not results to swell the confidence barrel – but still victories, and in bad times two successes are welcome in their own way.

By contrast, Armagh really lost the run of themselves in their wins over Division 4 opponents, Wicklow (2-21 to 0-2) and Leitrim (8-13 to 0-10) – they come to the holiday resort this weekend with a real pep in their step following their initial very disappointing Ulster championship exit at the hands of Cavan.

Mayo’s 17 point demolition of Galway in the Connacht semi-final at Pearse Stadium last May left no one in any doubt about the respective positions of those counties – one definite contenders for Sam Maguire and the other desperately trying to show that the foundations are being laid in the rebuilding process.

In fairness to Galway, the squad has put in a huge effort on the training ground since the darkest days of mid-winter but it just hasn’t translated into any tangible return on the field of play. Is it that Galway just don’t have the players to hack it with the big boys, or should we be just that little bit better.

Confidence is a mercurial commodity and Galway have been finding it in short supply over recent months – it only builds up through a run of wins, but all year, Galway have struggled to put together back-to-back victories.

Modest and all as the Galway wins were over Tipp and Waterford, they will have helped to lift the spirits, and at least they came out on top in tight games, something they had struggled to do over recent years.

The return of Finian Hanley to the full back position for the qualifiers has restored a measure of composure to the centre of defence, while Gary O’Donnell has also settled in solidly to the centre back role.

Other little nuggets of hope come from the powerful midfield displays of Paul Conroy; the return to scoring form of Michael Meehan and the liveliness of Danny Cummins in the corner. Galway though are struggling in many other positions.

They will be hoping that Conroy’s recent run of good form will give them a better midfield break than they enjoyed in last April’s league match against Armagh in the Athletic Grounds, when the home side caught ball after ball between the two 45s, often unopposed.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.