Shocking day by the seaside leaves Galway washed up

THE easiest thing this week is to join the chorus line and put the boot in after a humiliating experience for Galway footballers in their own backyard last Sunday. Having surrendered meekly to Mayo in a record-breaking Connacht championship defeat, the knives are out for both the mentors and players, with the critics having a field day at the expense of the men in maroon jerseys.

And to think that in the days and hours leading up to the Connacht quarter-final, even some neutrals were giving Galway a genuine chance of toppling last year’s All-Ireland finalists at Pearse Stadium. That thought process was largely framed by the tradition of past meetings between these arch Western rivals, with generally never much between them in the modern era and, often, the pre-match favourites being turned over.

All the pressure was on Mayo. Chasing a third provincial tile on the trot and touted as one of the top four contenders to lift the Sam Maguire Cup in 2013, they have regularly flopped under the weight of expectation before but, instead, we saw a different Mayo last Sunday. There was a harder edge to them; they used their greater experience to telling effect; and, physically, overpowered the home team in many of the key individual battles. There was only one team in it and, no wonder, TV analyst Joe Brolly described Galway as ‘kids’.

At times, it was embarrassing to watch. Some of the Galway defending was alarmingly naive and their tendency to try and pass their way up the field only led to turnovers and trouble. All of Mayo’s three opening-half goals were avoidable, but such was the yawning gulf between the teams that Galway were already demoralised by the break. A string of self-inflicted blows together with Mayo’s overwhelming superiority led to a staggering half-time scoreline of 3-9 to 0-6. Nobody saw that coming.

If the Galway supporters in the crowd of over 16,000 thought things couldn’t get any worse, they were wrong. Within 15 minutes of the resumption, the Tribesmen were down to 13 players after Gareth Bradshaw and Niall Coleman were dismissed for off-the-ball offences. Undoubtedly, there was provocation involved, but players simply can’t lose their discipline in such circumstances. It just made a terrible day for Galway football even more shameful as Mayo sauntered through the second-half with substitute Andy Moran, back after a serious knee injury, applying the coup de grace in injury time.

Bradshaw and Coleman were probably both frustrated and annoyed at how the match was evolving, but they were no good to Galway on the sideline. The fight, however, had long since gone out of Alan Mulholland’s charges. They had done reasonably in the opening quarter with the sprightly Danny Cummins, Paul Conroy and Michael Meehan, a wonderful placed ball effort from the sideline for their opening score, finding the target, but soon the floodgates were to open as Galway’s challenge quickly disintegrated.

The lack of cynicism in their rearguard was reflected in the manner by which Mayo championship debutant Cathal Carolan meandered his way through a series of flimsy tackles to beat Manus Breathnach, who was given no protection, at his far post in the 15th minute. The Galway full back line, all members of the All-Ireland winning under 21 team of 2011, were playing as though they were still performing in that grade and that innocence contributed to a nightmare experience.

The unforced errors continued to kill Galway and when Tomas Flynn gave the ball away out the field, seconds later Enda Varley was rifling the ball to the Galway net. A third goal followed from Donal Vaughan in the 34th minute and it was reminiscent of something you’d see in the schoolyard. The home defence was completely marked absent and goalkeeper Breathnach was left all alone as he tried to close down Cillian O’Connor, who had the simple task of laying off the ball for the raiding and unchallenged Mayo half-back.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.