Footballers turn the corner

Galway  1-11  Armagh 0-9

TWO months of soul-searching, two months of despair, finally gave away to a wondrous awakening as the new generation of Galway footballers produced the shock of Round Three of the All-Ireland senior football qualifiers to put Armagh to the sword in the splendid sunshine at Salthill on Saturday evening.

A team which had been humbled and humiliated by old foes Mayo, before labouring to get past Tipperary and Waterford at the same venue, finally came of age with the kind of performance their supporters could only have dreamed of through those three troubling fixtures.

There has been a good deal of luck about the Tribesmen’s run through the qualifiers, and there was an element of good fortune about Danny Cummins’ decisive 24th minute goal, but nobody in the attendance of 5,628 could dispute that the better, more focused team won this battle.

The Tribesmen made four changes for this fixture, and were forced into a fifth when corner back Keith Kelly picked up an injury in the warm-up, and there was a clear sense of purpose about the men in maroon from the minute they took to the field.

They stormed into an early three point lead and never once fell behind to an Armagh side which had perhaps fallen into a false sense of security after dishing out hammerings to Leitrim and Wicklow, in which they had scored an incredible 10-34, in their previous two games.

Huge credit must go to the Galway defence for limiting the much-vaunted visiting attack to just nine points here – the Armagh men were constantly harried and closed down, and never once got a chance to launch a serious assault on Manus Breathnach’s goal.

It was a tactical masterclass by Alan Mulholland and his selectors, who deployed Johnny Duane in a sweeper role in front of rival danger man Jamie Clarke. Once Duane and direct opponent Donal O’Neill snuffed Clarke’s threat out, the Armagh attack looked far less menacing.

Forwards Conor Doherty and the recalled Micheal Martin put in unbelievable shifts in the sweltering conditions. Time and again, they tracked back to help their defensive colleagues while All-Ireland U-21 winner Thomas Flynn dominated the midfield exchanges alongside the superbly consistent Paul Conroy.

In short, firm defensive foundations were put in place right from the start for this memorable victory. It did not seem to matter that there were just three Galway players in the opposing half at times, given the wonderful mobility demonstrated by the men in maroon when shifting focus from defence to attack.

Armagh must have been shell-shocked to find themselves four points down at the break and, even though they did try to mount a fightback, Galway just upped the pace again to register the most impressive 70 minute performance of the Mulholland era.

All of the changes paid off in one way or another for the management team, while full credit must go to Sean Denvir for doing such a solid job after being called into the starting XV at literally the last minute.

Once again, the experience of Finian Hanley and Gary Sice was vital to the cause when Armagh tried to rally, but this was a day when some of Galway’s talented youngsters finally looked the part at senior level.

The Tribesmen made light of low expectations from the outset and Duane, on a rare venture upfield, opened their account with a fisted point after good work by Flynn, a rejuvenated Sean Armstrong at centre forward, and Conroy.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.