Galway look to restore pride with Tipp visit

Dara Bradley

 It may not quite equate to an exorcism . . . but Galway senior footballer manager, Alan Mulholland’s charges will be looking to banish the demons of the humiliating Connacht championship exit to Mayo when they take on Tipperary in round one of the qualifiers at Pearse Stadium this coming Saturday (7pm).

Galway’s road to redemption following that 4-16 to 0-11 hiding in Salthill six weeks ago starts here. It mustn’t have been easy in the weeks following the Mayo debacle with the stinging criticism from the terraces and media still ringing in their ears but the Galway outfit – players and management – now have a shot at salvation, with their first opportunity to restore some pride in the maroon and white jersey.

Division Four team Tipperary, who are certainly no World beaters, were hockeyed by Kerry in the Munster championship a few weeks back, 2-19 to 0-8, and so their state of mind is probably as brittle as Galway’s and should be there for the taking . . .  but there are few certainties in sport.

“Both teams are in a very fragile place . . . they’ve lost heavily in the first round against Kerry and we’ve suffered a heavy defeat. We know we’re going to have to perform 100% better than we did against Mayo, that’s what we have to do. It doesn’t really matter about the opposition, we’re not focussed on Tipperary. We have to focus on our own game . . . we have our own demons to overcome,” Mulholland told Tribune Sport yesterday.

Galway is familiar with the back-door route at this stage but it is still unchartered territory for them – it is the first time they’ve been paired in round one of the qualifiers.

Losing in round one and being out of the championship before July is unthinkable . . . but winning is definitely not a certainty either and it will depend wholly on how the players react when inside the four white lines come throw-in. It really will be a test of Galway’s character as Tipperary – who will hardly fear Galway – will throw everything at them.

Galway’s collective and individual state of mind mustn’t be in a great state at the minute and so a good start to boost confidence will be key on Saturday. Mulholland said that he has been impressed with the resolve of his players in training since the Mayo setback and that the six weeks’ break was welcome.

“It has been a long time, ordinarily you’d like to be playing sooner than six weeks after your last game but it was good that we had the six weeks. The lads returned to their clubs, which was good for them, and then we returned to training for the last few weeks. We’ve had a lot of stuff to work on and training has gone well since,” he said.

The defeat to Mayo will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Losing by 17 points to the arch rivals ranks it as Galway’s worst championship result in living memory. So how bad was the feeling in the camp afterwards – how deflated and demoralised were they?

“Look it, it was very disappointing; we were very disappointed. A lot of things went wrong and didn’t go our way. But I’ve been very pleased with the resolve that these guys have shown since. It was very hard and it could have gone any way after the Mayo game but the players have shown a resolve in training.

“It was disappointing against Mayo, it was bad, but we’re not dwelling on it, we have to move on, we have to put that behind us. We showed some good form this year in the league, and we had some good form last year and we’re just trying to get some form going,” he added.

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