Inside Track
Hurlers blow it but footballers show some bottle
Inside Track with John McIntyre
AS the matches which formed Sunday’s National League double bill at Pearse Stadium drifted into the final quarter respectively, it was difficult to escape the conclusion that the Galway hurlers were certainties to beat Cork and the footballers were in big trouble against Wexford. The Salthill venue, however, threw up unexpected finishes to both matches on a biting cold day when the strong wind didn’t have the expected influence on the action.
The hurlers may have finished level with Cork, but that outcome will have felt like a defeat after they had established a four point lead midway through the second-half with the elements behind them. In contrast, the Galway footballers defied the wind in their faces to finish in a blaze of glory to win by a hardly imaginable eight points, having found themselves in some difficulty when going 0-11 to 0-10 behind 16 minutes from the end.
At present in the county’s GAA strongholds, there is more thought of the Galway hurlers than the footballers, but it was Alan Mulholland’s team which displayed the greater resolve and technique at the weekend. Having got a bad thumping from Laois in the previous round of the league, the Tribesmen were under severe pressure ahead of the Wexford encounter with the threat of relegation hanging over them, and struggling to assemble a settled team.
Changes were again made for the visit of the Slaneysiders, the most notable of which saw Ballinalsoe’s Keith Kelly called up to centre back, but wind-assisted Galway produced an uneven first half performance. They went from 0-3 to 0-1 up after seven minutes to trailing by 0-6 to 0-3 midway through the half with lively Wexford corner forward Shane Roche proving a handful. The manner in which opposition players careered through the heart of the Galway defence was alarming, while there was also a dependency on Sean Armstrong frees for scores at the other end.
With Wexford deploying full forward Redmond Barry as an effective sweeper, Galway found it difficult to create sufficient openings, but the energetic Danny Cummins did land a brace, while Conor Doherty had to settle for a point after his thumping drive was denied by the crossbar in the 25th minute. The home team did lead by 0-8 to 0-7 at the break, but that narrow advantage looked well short of what Galway needed given the strength of the wind.
Yet, it was soon clear that the Tribesmen were up for the challenge. Paul Conroy, who shortly needs to be tied down to one position – certainly, starting him at corner forward, appeared an odd piece of management thinking – and substitute Gareth Bradshaw fired over points as they crowded the middle third of the field to prevent the opposition running from deep. But the conditions just had to exert an influence and it was no surprise when Wexford reeled off four points on the spin to edge in front 19 minutes into the half.
It could quickly have got worse for Galway only for raiding corner back Joey Wadding, admittedly under pressure, dragging his close range effort just wide of Manus Breathnach’s far post. A goal then would probably have sealed Galway’s fate, and though they still had work to do, Finian Hanley and his team-mates were not to be found wanting as they finished the match by serving up arguably their most fluent football of the campaign so far.
Despite it being his third game of the week, young midfielder Fiontán Ó Curraoin was securing some primary possession around midfield, while Gary Sice, after a less than blemish-free opening-half, began to thunder into the action, highlighted by his cracking goal in the 69th minute after Michael Meehan and Cummins had put the Corofin man in the clear. Even more impressive was the manner in which Galway drove on from there to the finish.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribne.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
SOMETHING very odd happened to Tyrone in the Ulster championship in early April. On their home turf of Healy Park, they were doing nearly everything expected of them when leading Monaghan by five points at half-time. You couldn’t say for definite that the match was done and dusted, but the 2021 All-Ireland champions were in pole position.
You would have expected them to drive on against an honest if limited Monaghan outfit. Instead, Tyrone didn’t score for the opening 16 minutes of the second-half and in an enthralling finale, were left stunned by defender Ryan’s Toole’s stoppage-time goal snatching the honours for the Farney men on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline.
A couple of weeks later, Monaghan themselves had exited the Ulster title race when Derry comfortably got the better of them (1-21 to 2-10), leaving us more puzzled than ever by Tyrone’s dramatic decline since overcoming Mayo to claim Sam barely 20 months previously. Last year, they crashed out of Ulster by 11 points to Derry and subsequently came up six short against Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Against that background, their recent loss to Monaghan shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Tyrone may have made a shambolic defence of the All-Ireland title, but there is still a lot of quality in their ranks. They have an adventurous ‘keeper in Niall Morgan, while the long-serving Peter Harte, Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry, Cathal McShane, Conor Meyler, Mattie Donnelly, and Conn Kilpatrick are all top-class performers when in the mood.
There’s hardly been a word about them for the past six weeks. Tyrone are lying low, desperately trying to rediscover the verve and cohesion which took them all the way in 2021. Their pride is on the line. It makes them dangerous opponents for Galway in the opening round of All-Ireland group matches at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
GALWAY footballers won’t get much credit for their easy victory over Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht Final in Castlebar, but when a team achieves something that hasn’t been done for 20 years, perhaps we should be a little more appreciative of the Tribesmen retaining the JJ Nestor Cup for the first time in two decades.
To be honest, if Galway were to live up to their standing as serious All-Ireland contenders, they needed to be doing a number on Sligo. In this year’s National League, the counties were three divisions apart and though Tony McEntee’s team achieved promotion and were on a nine-match unbeaten run, a serious rise in class faced them at MacHale Park.
Granted, Sligo made a bright start with three points in the opening five minutes from Pat Spillane, Sean Carrabine and the accurate Darragh Cummins, but they would only manage two more by the break despite having the wind behind them. Though wing back Luke Towey was catching the eye with his runs up-field, Galway rarely looked under pressure.
Sligo were bravely committing numbers to the middle third, which meant they were a little light in numbers around their own posts. They couldn’t afford to lose possession coming out of their own half, but that’s what happened in the build up to Galway’s second goal. Damien Comer overturned Cian Lally and from his counter-attack, Matthew Tierney expertly finished to the net at the near post.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IS the Leinster hurling championship something of a sham compared to its Munster counterpart? Everybody knows who will end up in the provincial final in the east, but nobody knows the two teams who will feature in the ultimate battle for supremacy down south.
All-Ireland champions Limerick aren’t guaranteed to even make it out of the province, never mind reach the Munster final, after their narrow loss to Clare in Saturday evening’s epic at the Gaelic Grounds. Everything is still on the line for the five counties involved, although Waterford are again under serious pressure after losing their opening two matches.
In Leinster, there is little of that drama. Galway and Kilkenny are miles ahead of the rest; the only thing at stake is whether Dublin or Wexford – they meet in Croke Park on Saturday – will be the third team to emerge for the All-Ireland series. It’s a game which is hard to call. Wexford are going backwards while Dublin look callow as Micheál Donoghue is trying to build the nucleus of a new team.
Though Antrim are improving – they held the Dubs to a draw and only lost to Wexford by four points – the men from the Glens would be out of their depth in Munster; while Westmeath are proving cannon-fodder for everyone else. Since Galway headed east in 2009, they have clashed with Kilkenny in seven Leinster finals and another showdown is inevitable next month.
In contrast, every match in Munster is virtually do-or die. When Clare rolled into Limerick last Saturday, they knew another defeat after losing to Tipperary in the opening round would leave them on the precipice of exiting the championship. There’s a real dog-eat-dog appeal about all the games. In Leinster, there are two big hounds, and the rest are chihuahuas.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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