Inside Track
Galway hurlers way off pace and lucky to get away with it
Inside Track with John McIntyre
Sometimes being forewarned makes little difference as Galway hurlers almost discovered to their huge cost in Portlaoise last Sunday. They would have headed to the midlands venue under no illusions about what lay ahead of them and the tactics the home team would employ, but the Tribesmen were still clueless in their attempts to counteract the opposition’s packed defensive lines in scraping into the Leinster semi-final.
Galway had just survived a similar ambush at the same venue 12 months earlier, so they knew what to expect in this repeat encounter against Laois only to blindly stumble their way to a fortunate victory despite making a terrific start against the influential elements. Ultimately, that unanswered burst of 1-3 saved them from being completely wiped out in the first half and a probable embarrassing defeat.
Goodness knows, it was bad enough anyway as a well drilled Laois outfit subsequently outscored their visitors by 16 points to four from there to the interval. Wind or no wind, this was a shocking indictment of Galway’s poor play and had Neil Foyle not spurned a clear-cut goal scoring opportunity in the 32nd minute, the maroon dam could have been burst completely.
Defending in numbers and cleverly freeing up their shooters to fire at the opposition posts, often from long range, Laois gave themselves a great platform to pull off the biggest upset in the championship in years. It was still a tantalising prospect heading into injury time but goalkeeper Eoin Reilly was unable to conjure up a Roy of the Rovers finale from a late 20m free. They deserved better as Galway struggled for long periods to match their hosts’ intensity and sheer heart.
Though Laois were facing into their fifth championship outing on consecutive weekends, they were clearly much sharper than sluggish opponents whose persistence in bombing high balls down on their full forward line in the second-half proved naive in the extreme. Galway were simply too one-dimensional and needed to mix it up, but they were impatient and found it difficult to produce the expected fluid team-work on the team’s championship debut.
For much of this contest, Galway were shambolic as poor defending, loose marking, a below average work ethic and flawed tactics ensured they more than flirted with a disastrous outcome. In the circumstances, it is to the team’s credit that they manage to survive thanks largely to a strong closing quarter surge as their greater technical ability finally becoming influential with substitute Jason Flynn proving his worth with three priceless points.
It was hard to imagine this Leinster quarter-final going down to the wire after Galway flew out of the blocks with points from Johnny Coen, David Burke and the tireless Padraig Breheny augmenting an admittedly scrappy goal from Jonathan Glynn in the third minute. It was a demoralising start for Laois, but heads never dropped and they went on to dominate the remainder of the opening half action with Joe Fitzpatrick, the impressive Tommy Fitzgerald, Willie Hyland, Tom Delaney and Foyle among those bombing over rousing points. At the other end, Conor Coney was the only Galway forward making a significant impact on a day Joe Canning was again extremely subdued.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
SOMETHING very odd happened to Tyrone in the Ulster championship in early April. On their home turf of Healy Park, they were doing nearly everything expected of them when leading Monaghan by five points at half-time. You couldn’t say for definite that the match was done and dusted, but the 2021 All-Ireland champions were in pole position.
You would have expected them to drive on against an honest if limited Monaghan outfit. Instead, Tyrone didn’t score for the opening 16 minutes of the second-half and in an enthralling finale, were left stunned by defender Ryan’s Toole’s stoppage-time goal snatching the honours for the Farney men on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline.
A couple of weeks later, Monaghan themselves had exited the Ulster title race when Derry comfortably got the better of them (1-21 to 2-10), leaving us more puzzled than ever by Tyrone’s dramatic decline since overcoming Mayo to claim Sam barely 20 months previously. Last year, they crashed out of Ulster by 11 points to Derry and subsequently came up six short against Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Against that background, their recent loss to Monaghan shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Tyrone may have made a shambolic defence of the All-Ireland title, but there is still a lot of quality in their ranks. They have an adventurous ‘keeper in Niall Morgan, while the long-serving Peter Harte, Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry, Cathal McShane, Conor Meyler, Mattie Donnelly, and Conn Kilpatrick are all top-class performers when in the mood.
There’s hardly been a word about them for the past six weeks. Tyrone are lying low, desperately trying to rediscover the verve and cohesion which took them all the way in 2021. Their pride is on the line. It makes them dangerous opponents for Galway in the opening round of All-Ireland group matches at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
GALWAY footballers won’t get much credit for their easy victory over Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht Final in Castlebar, but when a team achieves something that hasn’t been done for 20 years, perhaps we should be a little more appreciative of the Tribesmen retaining the JJ Nestor Cup for the first time in two decades.
To be honest, if Galway were to live up to their standing as serious All-Ireland contenders, they needed to be doing a number on Sligo. In this year’s National League, the counties were three divisions apart and though Tony McEntee’s team achieved promotion and were on a nine-match unbeaten run, a serious rise in class faced them at MacHale Park.
Granted, Sligo made a bright start with three points in the opening five minutes from Pat Spillane, Sean Carrabine and the accurate Darragh Cummins, but they would only manage two more by the break despite having the wind behind them. Though wing back Luke Towey was catching the eye with his runs up-field, Galway rarely looked under pressure.
Sligo were bravely committing numbers to the middle third, which meant they were a little light in numbers around their own posts. They couldn’t afford to lose possession coming out of their own half, but that’s what happened in the build up to Galway’s second goal. Damien Comer overturned Cian Lally and from his counter-attack, Matthew Tierney expertly finished to the net at the near post.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IS the Leinster hurling championship something of a sham compared to its Munster counterpart? Everybody knows who will end up in the provincial final in the east, but nobody knows the two teams who will feature in the ultimate battle for supremacy down south.
All-Ireland champions Limerick aren’t guaranteed to even make it out of the province, never mind reach the Munster final, after their narrow loss to Clare in Saturday evening’s epic at the Gaelic Grounds. Everything is still on the line for the five counties involved, although Waterford are again under serious pressure after losing their opening two matches.
In Leinster, there is little of that drama. Galway and Kilkenny are miles ahead of the rest; the only thing at stake is whether Dublin or Wexford – they meet in Croke Park on Saturday – will be the third team to emerge for the All-Ireland series. It’s a game which is hard to call. Wexford are going backwards while Dublin look callow as Micheál Donoghue is trying to build the nucleus of a new team.
Though Antrim are improving – they held the Dubs to a draw and only lost to Wexford by four points – the men from the Glens would be out of their depth in Munster; while Westmeath are proving cannon-fodder for everyone else. Since Galway headed east in 2009, they have clashed with Kilkenny in seven Leinster finals and another showdown is inevitable next month.
In contrast, every match in Munster is virtually do-or die. When Clare rolled into Limerick last Saturday, they knew another defeat after losing to Tipperary in the opening round would leave them on the precipice of exiting the championship. There’s a real dog-eat-dog appeal about all the games. In Leinster, there are two big hounds, and the rest are chihuahuas.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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