Sunday to tell if the tide is really turning for Galway

Inside Track with John McIntyre

It was one of the blackest days in the history of Galway football – a record-equalling 17-point defeat to arch provincial rivals Mayo; two players sent off; and it all happened on home soil. It was May, 2013, in front of a crowd of over 16,000 at Pearse Stadium and there was no place to hide for manager Alan Mulholland and his players after a traumatic and demoralising Connacht semi-final.

Taking the match at face value, you’d imagine that Galway’s short term future as a footballing force was a write off but, within a couple of months, they were scaring the lives out of Cork in Croke Park. Some pride had been restored with a few more All-Ireland winning U-21s being bloodied as the men in maroon stopped the rot and gave supporters tangible hope that better days might be ahead.

However, 2014 was a slow-burner with more hardship being experienced by the Galway camp. Losing to Leitrim in the FBD League was deflating, but arguably even worse was a Division Two league thumping from Laois. Further bad news was the retirement of Michael Meehan from inter-county football as the Tribesmen struggled to avoid the genuine threat of relegation to the backwoods of Division Three.

In the end, Galway steadied as the league campaign progressed, highlighted by a morale-boosting home win over Down and pushing Ulster champions Monaghan all the way in their final Division Two outing in Clones. Nobody was viewing them as serious championship contenders but, at least, they had toughed out a difficult spring and a couple of their younger brigade were beginning to find their feet at this level.

Still, there was no great confidence behind them heading to Ruislip for their Connacht championship opener against last year’s surprise provincial finalists London, with a minority of fans even fearful that the unthinkable might happen – a victory for the exiles – but Galway flew out of the blocks and though the home resistance was awful, they galloped to a big win in setting up a semi-final clash with Sligo last month.

If only on the basis of the counties’ three previous championship meetings – with Galway winning none of them – it represented a serious enough test of Mulholland’s men, especially at Markievicz Park, and though it wasn’t until the second half that they pulled clear of Sligo, the visitors had a significant superiority in class and pace with Shane Walsh, Danny Cummins, Fiontán Ó Curraoin and Thomas Flynn winning most of the individual plaudits.

In the build up to that game, St. James’ pair Johnny Duane and Eoin Concannon were released from the panel for off-field indiscipline, but Galway readily put that controversy behind them in setting up a final date with Mayo. For their part, the champions received something of a reality check in unimpressively fending off Roscommon’s spirited challenge at Hyde Park even if, in retrospect, it was the perfect outcome for James Horan’s charges – not playing particularly well, but still getting the result.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.