Flattering Galway hang on for draw in low scoring tie

Date Published: {J}

GALWAY 1-8

LOUTH 0-11

FRANK FARRAGHER AT PEARSE STADIUM

AFTER the elation of Derry, the reality check for Galway’s footballers arrived with quite a thud at Pearse Stadium on Sunday, as they had to hang on precariously in order to extract a draw from a fixture that would have been pencilled in all week as a ‘two pointer’.

The trick about February football is neither to get too excited about a win nor too depressed about a bad performance, and the three week gap before the next game against Westmeath will afford Alan Mulholland the opportunity to carry out an early season audit . . . and at least three invaluable league points have been stashed away.

It was though a bit of a let-down on Sunday. The crowd of close on 5,000, swelled by the draw of the hurling clash between Galway and Kilkenny, had expected some fire and brimstone, but most of the glow came from Peter Fitzpatrick’s very committed Louth side. Indeed, how the visitors managed to leave victory behind them at Salthill was quite baffling.

If Galway learned one lesson from this match, it has to come under the heading of intensity. Louth battled for every ball and launched themselves into every tackle with a commitment that the home side often just couldn’t match – if the visitors had complemented that workrate with slick finishing, they would have romped to victory.

Galway did produce one 10 minute spell of purposeful football early in the first-half which helped them race into a 1-5 to 0-2 lead, and we all sat back expecting this advantage to be sustained to the end. Unfortunately, the Galway team sat back too, and from there to the finish, Louth dominated this game.

While Galway did play well on the previous weekend in Celtic Park, there was a niggling worry that Derry were a few pence short of the full shilling – their demise at the hands of Tyrone on Sunday probably confirming that. By the same token, Louth are probably a shade better than some observers might think and remember they did come within one referee’s decision of winning a Leinster title 18 months ago.

Galway do have a young team with a good sprinkling of promising footballers but the transition from youth to maturity will always have its hurdles to overcome – physicality, mental toughness and intensity have all to be added to the buds of youthful exuberance.

The big struggle for Galway on Sunday was in trying to win primary possession around the middle of the field. From the 20th minute on, when Thomas Flynn kicked the point that put Galway 1-5 to 0-2 ahead, Louth won the vast majority of the possession battles between the two 45s. Nearly all of the ‘hard ball’ ended up stuck to a red jersey.

Galway did make a number of changes, but most of them were in attack, and maybe in the same way as a rugby coach might bring on two props to bolster a sagging scrum, the introduction of a couple of players like Barry Cullinane and Niall Coleman, could have helped to at least jolt Louth’s midfield platform.

Defensively, Galway performed quite solidly, and they had to, given the amount of pressure they were under with Gareth Bradshaw again catching the eye most, due to his mix of brashness and fire. Colin Forde, Keith Kelly and Jonathan Duane also manned the pumps with great commitment, and in the end Galway’s defence did manage to salvage a point from this encounter.

They also had to call on those moments in sport when you have to rely on your opponent missing. In the closing minutes, Louth missed the target from two 45s while a goal bound shot from Andy McDonnell ended up being blocked by one of his colleagues – this was real backs to the wall stuff for Galway.

It all looked so differently after 13 minutes when Danny Cummins neatly slotted home an opportunist goal after a Paul Conroy point effort had come back off the post. Shortly after, Cummins added a quick point followed by similar efforts from Nicky Joyce and Michael Martin. Louth looked set to take a bit of a pasting.

Alas that was to be Galway’s last spell on the high ground as Louth showed commendable tenacity and courage to haul themselves back into contention. Disturbingly, Galway’s next point didn’t arrive for 14 minutes – a trademark effort from Bradshaw – and over the course of the entire second half, only two more white flags were to be raised by the home side.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.