Relief as Galway survive in Division Two

MONAGHAN 0-13

GALWAY 0-12

A DECENT performance . . . a disappointing result . . . but at the end of the Spring voyage, at least survival in Division 2 of the National League was achieved as Galway look ahead to the championship with a bit more optimism than they had in the darker days of February.

In terms of effort, commitment and ball winning power, Galway ticked most of the boxes at Clones on Sunday but an epidemic of some very errant finishing, often from quite decent positions, cost them dearly against a Monaghan side somewhat fortunate to end up with both points.

A tally of at least 15 wides probably tells the twin tales of this game for Galway. On the one hand, the statistic reflected the level of possession they enjoyed but, on the downside, the figures also showed a level of wastefulness in the Galway attack that needs to be addressed.

Galway lined out without the services of Fiontán Ó Curraoin due to a hamstring problem, leading to a reshuffle with Paul Conroy assigned to a more midfield role, and one that he filled with some conviction, as frequently Monaghan struggled to win clean ball around the centre.

Indeed one of Galway’s main structural improvements over the course of the league has been the marked improvement in their ability to win ball in the middle of the field sector – last Sunday, James Kavanagh, Thomas Flynn and especially Conroy, looked very strong in the central positions.

Another significant advance for Galway has been the performances of Gary O’Donnell at centre back, a long standing defensive problem slot over recent years.

The Tuam Stars clubman put in another rock solid display at the heart of the defence and one of his retrieving second half blocks – after his colleague Jos Moore got into bother following a short kick-out – typified the spirit that he played the game.

Full report in this week;s Connacht Tribune