Hope Springs eternal for Galway

Date Published: 31-Jan-2013

FRANK FARRAGHER

WITH every Spring there comes a dollop of hope and when Galway footballers trot out on Sunday at Pearse Stadium (2pm) to take on Derry in the first match of the National League, there will be murmurings of better days to come for the hard core of maroon supporters.

Patience has had to be a virtue for all involved with Galway football over recent years, but Alan Mulholland and his management team have embarked on a policy of building a young team . . . a slow process and one that also requires the injection of winning key matches to build up the confidence reserves.

Championship and qualifier defeats to Sligo and Antrim last season didn’t exactly improve the mood of the county, and last Sunday week in Enniscrone, there were worrying signs when, once more, Galway perished at the sword of Kevin Walsh.

This time last year in the first match of the league, Galway travelled to Derry and came away with an unexpected victory that sowed the seeds of future hope – overall, Mulholland’s charges had a good early season campaign only being denied promotion by a late, late Kildare penalty goal in their last game at Pearse Stadium.

Over the Winter, Galway’s last playing links with the All-Ireland winning team of 2001 were severed with the retirements of Padraic Joyce and Joe Bergin, so it really is a new canvas in 2013 for the team management.

Mulholland said this week that he didn’t want to put too much pressure on his team for the Derry match, on the basis that there were 14 points to be picked up over the course of the league campaign, but he was still hoping for a strong performance in Pearse Stadium.

“Yes, we were very disappointed at our defeat to Sligo in the FBD league match in Enniscrone and especially with our second-half performance. It was an eye-opener for us but we’ve regrouped since, we’ve taken a look at where things went wrong, and hopefully we’ll get in right for Sunday.

“I suppose that if there’s one thing a young team needs, it’s confidence and that comes from winning matches. Over the last couple of months, the lads really have put in a huge effort in terms of their physical preparation, and I am hoping that this will count for something over the course of the league,” Mulholland told Tribune Sport.

He did stress however that Derry will present a very strong challenge under new manager Brian McIver (who guided Donegal to National League success) – a man who has also placed his faith in a youth policy – with the county having delivered some strong performances in the McKenna Cup.

“There’s a lot of football talent in Derry and maybe like ourselves, they might feel that they should be doing better, but they’ll come to Pearse Stadium on Sunday with no fears, and we know that it will take a huge effort to beat them,” said Mulholland.

Derry didn’t make it through to the McKenna Cup decider but they were, by all accounts, desperately unlucky to lose out to Tyrone in their first round game when they were ‘caught’ by a late sucker punch goal from Conor McAliskey.

Eoin Bradley is also back to spice up things in the Derry attack and the Northern side always carry a strong physical element to their play, so Galway will need to hold their own in the 50-50 scraps for possession.

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