Flattering Galway come up well short in opening league outing
Date Published: {J}
Monaghan 0-19Galway 0-14
FRANK FARRAGHER
IT’S going to be a late Spring for Galway footballers and alas even then, there’s going to be no certainty about the crop, judging by the first turning of the sod at Clones, on Sunday.
The heavy overnight and morning rains led to a late switch of venue from a more intimate Inishkeen to St. Tiernan’s Park – the playing surface was relatively good given the overnight pounding it had taken, but this pretty vast amphitheatre was rather thinly populated on February’s first Sunday.
The Galway flame blew quite brightly for the best part of a half hour in this Division One National League match but when the pressure came on in the second half, it was an experimental Monaghan team that proved to be the stronger in nearly all of the key positions.
Even before a ball was kicked on Sunday, these two teams were already installed as red hot favourites by the bookies for the relegation trapdoor – for the winners though lay the prize of two points in the bag as well as a little sachet of momentum for the tasks ahead.Most of the crowd of close on 3,000, packed into the centre portion of the stand, were from the home sod, although during a first half when Galway kicked 10 quite impressive points, the hard core of travelling support let their voices be heard.
Make no mistake about it though, but Galway are in a very difficult place in the football world at the moment. Championship and qualifier defeats to Sligo and Wexford last year have sullied the spirits and the absence of a backbone of quality players – for a lot of different reasons – from the squad at present, is certainly not helping the cause.
For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.