Galway anxious to test current worth against Tipperary

Date Published: {J}

Dara Bradley

IT wouldn’t take a genius to have predicted that Galway football manager Alan Mulholland was going to be downbeat in his post-match debriefing with the press.

Trying to explain to the public how or why your team surrendered a six points half-time lead, particularly so soon after the event, cannot be easy.

And the Salthill/Knocknacarra man didn’t hide his disappointment. A pointed putdown directed at one reporter before commencing his interviews set the tone, as a sombre Mulholland dissected what had gone before.

Mulholland’s demeanour – and words – clearly indicated that he was of the view that Galway’s 0-13 to 1-10 draw against Westmeath at Tuam on Sunday was a case of one league point lost, rather than one gained.

Few could argue with him: The Tribesmen were on top at the break, leading the visitors by 0-8 to 0-2, but for the second weekend in succession they damn near imploded after the turnaround, and were actually trailing by two points – an eight points turnaround – midway through the second-half.

That they dug deep to earn a draw shows that there is a fighting character within this team but it’s just baffling how Galway had to rely on that fortitude when in reality, they should have been home and hosed well before the final whistle.

The Galway manager was unequivocal when asked was he satisfied with a draw: “No, we wanted to win this game.”

Mulholland said: “Look, we were in pole position at half-time, so we allowed them to get back into the game but I suppose a positive out of all this is that when they did go ahead of us, they went two points up, we were able to come back and get a draw and at least we got a point out of it.

“This game was very important to us. You know, we got a lot of stick after last week. Now, the attitude was much improved today, particularly in the first half. And that’s what we wanted to get out of today – to get a bit of respect back into the whole thing . . . you know we shipped a lot of stick, so we wanted to come out here and show everybody, you know, what Galway football is all about.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.