Golden chance for Galway to lift gloom with semis win

RELEGATED to Division 2 of the National League, Galway will look to rejuvenate their season with a win over neighbours Roscommon when the sides meet in the Connacht senior football championship semi-final at Dr. Hyde Park this Sunday (1:15pm).

No doubt, this is a defining fixture for the Tribesmen and, indeed, their manager Padraic Joyce, given Galway have claimed just one victory – that against Roscommon in the league – in their last seven competitive games.

Their latest defeat against Monaghan – a relegation play-off fixture they looked to have won when leading by five points with as many minutes to go in normal time – resulted in Galway being demoted to Division 2.

As disappointing as relegation was, it has been the manner of their decline since March 2020 that has caused concern among supporters, no more so than the heavy defeats they have taken against Mayo and Kerry in league meetings in the past year.

Although Joyce’s men responded with performances in their subsequent games, Galway need to be posting wins and Sunday’s Connacht semi-final joust against the Rossies gives them an opportunity to do so.

A victory would turn Galway’s season around and potentially set up a mouth-watering clash against Mayo – expected to dismiss Leitrim in their semi-final, as they did Sligo in the quarter-final last weekend – in the Connacht decider.

With Mayo shorn of talisman Cillian O’Connor (Achilles injury), a derby game like that could go any way. Indeed, a Connacht title – and an All-Ireland semi-final – would certainly ease the pain of relegation, but, more importantly, it might also direct Joyce and his young squad back onto a path they seemed to be on before the pandemic hit in March 2020.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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