Galway double offers hope for summer hurdles ahead

Inside Track with John McIntyre

THIS is the right time of the year to be winning league matches, especially when teams are under pressure to do so. For different reasons, the stakes were high for both the Galway hurlers and footballers last weekend and it’s heartening to report that there was no shortage of positives emanating from the Limerick Gaelic Grounds and Tuam Stadium respectively.

The Galway footballers have been having a fraught campaign in Division Two of the National League. Almost expected defeats against both Meath and Donegal in the opening two rounds were followed by a demoralising away trouncing at the hands of Laois. Supporters were left in despair; players’ confidence was in tatters; and there were rumblings about the position of manager Alan Mulholland.

After three consecutive losses, the odds weren’t great against Galway avoiding the humbling drop to Division Three. In such an environment, it was never going to be easy for the Tribesmen to salvage their current status, but with the final round of group matches looming, the squad has admirably regrouped to such an extent that their destiny is now in their own hands.

A home win over Down stopped the rot and though Galway subsequently frittered away a winning advantage in drawing with Louth, at least they were getting results. It still left them desperate for victory over Armagh at Tuam Stadium last Sunday and though Galway mixed the good with the bad, when the needed was greatest, they had the bottle to land the last four points of the match from James Kavanagh, Paul Conroy, Michael Farragher and Tom Flynn.

In the circumstances, it was a massive win for the home team, especially as they had allowed 14-man Armagh to work their back into the contest, thanks largely to Tony Kernan’s goal in the 39th minute and some neat point-taking from Kieran Dyas. Critically, Paul Grimley’s outfit also had the momentum and the outcome was hanging in the balance until Galway pulled it out of the fire. It could be a season changer.

Mulholland and his mentors had shaken up their team for the visit of Armagh and there was some surprise when Gary Sice was left off the starting 15, but nobody was seemingly more surprised than the Corofin player himself if the bush telegraph is to be believed that he threw a wobbly and briefly walked away from the panel before sanity prevailed. In any event, Galway got off to a flier with two goals in the opening four minutes from Eddie Hoare, following a surging run from Gareth Bradshaw, and Micheal Martin.

Debutant Michael Lundy was central to Martin’s green flag and his pace was causing Armagh problems. With team captain Conroy having registered a point inside 15 seconds as well, Mulholland might have been forgiven for thinking that he was about to experience a stress-free day on the sideline. Unfortunately, Galway tend not to make life easy for themselves at present even if they were to enjoy a healthy interval advantage of 2-8 to 0-9.

Galway were still five clear by the 47th minute when Armagh defender Gary McCooey got his marching orders. That should have been the signal for the men in maroon to push on but, instead, they became overly defensive and handed the initiative to their visitors. Goalkeeper Tom Healy made a couple of vital interventions, but there were frayed nerves all over Tuam Stadium when Finian Moriarty levelled matters with just seven minutes remaining.

For more, see this week’s Connacht Tribune.