Footballers bid to complete Houdini act against Dubs

Date Published: 07-Apr-2011

CIARAN TIERNEY

After what can only be described as a ‘good news week’ for Galway football, the fate of the county seniors is not quite in their own hands. And yet the home fixture against Dublin, which concludes their Allianz NFL Division One campaign on Sunday, has taken on a significance which seemed unlikely just a week ago.

All Galway can do is beat what’s in front of them and they might just have the edge in terms of motivation at Pearse Stadium (2.30pm), given that the Dubs became the first team to qualify for the League final last weekend.

If Galway win, they will still have to hope that results in Monaghan and Cork go their way. Tomas O Flatharata’s men are in a three-way battle with Monaghan and Armagh, who take on Mayo and the Rebels respectively, to avoid the two relegation places. But that’s a scenario they would have been delighted with last Sunday morning, as they faced into the daunting game away to Armagh.

An impressive victory over Armagh, coming 24 hours after the county U-21s lifted the Connacht title for the first time in six years, has lifted the gloom in the county. With Padraic Joyce back to his best after the Winter lay-off, and Micheal Meehan making a return to limited training this week, suddenly the prognosis for 2011 is not quite so desperate after all.

Joyce was superb against the Orchard County, scoring five points and tormenting the home defence at the Athletic Grounds, while there were also eye-catching performances from Gary Sice at wing back, forwards Cormac Bane and Paul Conroy, and the new-look midfield partnership of Joe Bergin and Finian Hanley.

Suddenly, the case for the team which suffered back-to-back heavy defeats to Mayo and Kerry does not seem so hopeless after all. A win

over Dublin, even if they  don’t avoid relegation, would lift the camp even further before the long break and the expected championship showdown with Mayo in Castlebar in late June.

This League has been a learning experience for O Flatharta’s men, who suddenly have a bit of a settled look about them with Sice proving that his rightful berth is at wing-back while Hanley has been converted from an industrious full-back into a towering midfielder. They may still go down, of course, but there have been clear signs of progress in the last two games against Cork and Armagh.

“I thought we showed good battling qualities and a good work ethic in the last home game against Cork and I think we improved on that performance in Armagh,” said O Flatharta after training on Tuesday night.

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