Galway turn their sights on Donegal after heartening league win over Tyrone

GALWAY footballers’ time to rest on their laurels after their first-round victory over Tyrone in Tuam on Sunday probably ended after their post-match meal that evening, and even by then, plans were already in-train for their trip to Letterkenny this weekend.

The National League action is coming and thick and fast this Spring and on Sunday in O’Donnell Park (2.30), Galway will be facing a Donegal side buoyed up by a very lively if eventually pointless defeat to Kerry in Killarney last weekend.

Last July when these two sides met in the final round of the qualifiers, Galway turned in a pretty powerful attacking display to record a 4-17 to 0-14 victory in Sligo, but since then, Declan Bonner has taken over the reins in Donegal and seems to have freshened up their footballing package.

It’s no secret that Bonner likes to play attacking football and on Sunday they racked up a very credible 3-14 against an admittedly experimental Kerry team, but in their first game of the season on home soil next Sunday, they will be itching for a first win of the season.

Like all managers, Galway’s Kevin Walsh will be focusing on the ‘improvement areas’, as he plans for the Donegal match but he knows too that the mood will be good in training this week.

“Yes, of course, Sunday’s win over Tyrone in Tuam was a great boost to everyone but at the end of the day it’s just one game . . . just one seventh of our league programme.

“I was very happy with our desire to win the ball . . . we really fought hard for possession but next Sunday it’s Donegal who have the home advantage, and we’ll be up against it,” said Walsh.

He said that this league would have its ups and down for most teams and only when Round 7 was over, could a judgment call be made on Galway’s overall progress.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.