Northern exposure brings light to lift footballers’ gloom

Date Published: {J}

Galway 1-20

Armagh 0-18

CIARAN TIERNEY AT THE

ARMAGH ATHLETIC GROUNDS

This was a performance and a result to lift the gloom. The Galway footballers may not quite be out of jail yet, but a spirited five point win over Armagh has not only given them an unexpected Allianz NFL Division One lifeline – it has restored some semblance of hope for the coming summer.

Galway still need to beat Dublin at home next Sunday, and results in Cork and Monaghan to go their way, if they are to retain their top flight status, but that’s a scenario which Tomas O Flatharta’s side would have taken with a relish as they entered into this seemingly daunting fixture at the revamped Armagh Athletic Grounds.

They made the trek North on the back of five straight defeats and trailed by 0-4 to no score after six minutes of action in which a Jamie Clarke pile-driver came crashing back off the crossbar. With the home side buoyed up by the return of the Crossmaglen men, fresh from their All-Ireland Club final success at Croke Park, the possibility of a humiliation looked to be on the cards.

But, to their credit, the Tribesmen refused to panic. Boosted by the return of Padraig Joyce, a last-minute starter after wing forward Matthew Clancy picked up an injury in the warm-up, they set about turning this game around with admirable conviction and composure.

Joyce was outstanding, kicking five points from a variety of angles and playing a key role in the goal which ultimately decided the issue. The wily 34-year old showed all the class and guile which made him one of the finest footballers of his generation here, but this was so much more than a one man show.

Gradually, the towering Joe Bergin and Finian Hanley began to turn the tide in midfield. At wing-back, Gary Sice was immense. Raiding up and down the left wing with the kind of menace current selector Sean Og De Paor used to show a decade ago, the Corofin man helped himself to three points and a Man of the Match performance.

If Joyce was sublime in attack, so too were Cormac Bane (1-4) and Paul Conroy (0-4). They seemed to have an uncanny ability to work the ball up the field and score every time Armagh threatened to haul back their lead, after outscoring the home side by 1-9 to 0-3 between the eighth minute and half-time.

It was a remarkable turn-around, boosted by the growing composure of a Galway defence in which full-backs Colin Forde and Johnny Duane had less than 24 hours to recover from the county U-21s comprehensive victory over Roscommon in the Connacht final. It was a memorable weekend for those two.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.