Bad year for Galway heaps pressure on Kernan
Date Published: {J}
NO matter how hard you try to beat around the bush, there is no escaping the fact that it’s been a disastrous year for Galway football. An indifferent National League campaign has been followed by a premature championship exit after four summer performances which summed up the county’s difficulties and underlined the team’s limitations.
Perhaps, supporters should have heeded the warning signals in retrospect. Finishing in No Man’s Land in the League and shipping a couple of heavy defeats along the way, especially with a new management calling the shots, were ominous. Galway just didn’t sparkle and with injury problems making life even harder, it wasn’t the ideal preparation for the championship.
The venerable Padraic Joyce spoke publicly after Sunday’s depressing championship exit to an ordinary enough if spirited Wexford outfit at Pearse Stadium in the All-Ireland qualifiers. His despair was obvious but he didn’t back away from calling it as it was – Galway footballers “had let the county down.”
The same Joyce, by some distance the oldest player on the squad, was again outstanding in the maroon jersey. With four points from play and a work ethic which embarrassed players ten years his junior, the Killererin man did all he could to prevent Galway from making another early departure from the championship. He simply oozed class and if this was the last occasion we shall see him in a Galway jersey – and why should it be, given the way he is playing – Joyce deserved a far better send off than this.
Once again, Galway looked to have carried the day as the match drifted into its closing stages. A Gary O’Donnell point in the 66th minute pushed them two clear, 0-13 to 1-8, but they were unable to close the deal as the last three points fell to Wexford just as the same thing had happened against Sligo at Markievicz Park the previous Saturday evening.
Those late scores from the impressive Ciaran Lyng (two) and Adrian Flynn secured a rousing victory for a Wexford team which had troubled periods at the start of both halves, but still managed to show more resilience than their hosts. Barely two and a half thousand people turned up in Pearse Stadium on a rain-soaked afternoon to witness another sobering day for Galway football and the local fans must have been appalled at how far the team has fallen in recent seasons.
Though playing their third game in a fortnight, Galway had shot out of the blocks by storming into an early four points lead with Joyce doing all the damage. Wexford were looking out of their depth, but they gradually settled and by the 23rd minute had squared the match with an effort from Colm Morris. It could have been even better for the 2008 All-Ireland semi-finalists as it took a fine reflex stop from Adrian Faherty to deny Redmond Barry a clear-cut goal scoring opportunity.
By this juncture, Cormac Bane had been introduced to the Galway attack and though it wasn’t a surprise that the Caherlistrane clubman was pressed into action so quickly, the replacing of young Eoin Concannon, who had already been involved in a couple of his team’s scores, did raise eyebrows. Bane, however, went on to land four points from play in a quality performance which raised the obvious question – why wasn’t he started?
The Galway management had also dropped Diarmuid Blake with Kieran Fitzgerald taking over at centre back and David Reilly promoted to the full back line. Initially, they looked more secure at the back but, by the end of the match, the rearguard was again in big trouble while the Tribesmen’s midfield wasn’t a factor when the going got tough and the hard ball needed to be won.
For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.