Harsh lesson for Galway as they let Kerry off the hook

Kerry 1-15

Galway 2-11

NO more than the fish that slips from the hook as it’s being hauled ashore, this was a quarry that Galway should have landed on Saturday evening. Having reeled in Kerry and taken a three-point lead in the final quarter, it looked as if the Tribesmen were destined to sail victorious into the flood-lit night.

However, in the closing 10 minutes or so, Padraic Joyce’s crew ran into choppy waters. Firstly, wing-back Cillian McDaid made a tackle straight out of the AFL manual and received a black card, his third in four games, along with 10 minutes in the sin-bin, before Kerry turned the tide when tallying an unanswered 1-1 in injury-time.

McDaid’s sin-binning was disappointing. The Monivea/ Abbey footballer had another great showing, with incisive forays forward, stripping the opposition of possession, and kicking a monster point on 50 minutes, but all this was undone by a moment of folly when he blatantly pulled back Kerry’s Dara Moynihan. He was duly sidelined for the crucial final 10 minutes.

After a stint in the AFL, the Galway wing-back appears to be struggling to de-programme himself from the coaching he received in the tackle and he will have to tidy up his discipline if Joyce is to continue to keep faith in him.

The one thing about McDaid, though, is that he is a player who is honest to the core. He is well-grounded and will have taken last Saturday night’s incident in front of a crowd of 11,117 at Austin Stack Park, Tralee, to heart. A few dedicated hours with coaches Mike Comer and John Divilly could solve a lot and, if McDaid rectifies this area of his game, he will be a major force going forward.

As it was, his departure on 63 minutes left Galway short-handed at a pivotal point in the game. Although three points up, 2-11 to 0-14, Kerry, in front of a vocal home crowd, were always likely to push hard in the closing stages, and this they did.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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