Footballers keep faith with same 15 for Sligo test

FRANK FARRAGHER

ACCORDING to the bookmakers, the outcome of Saturday evening’s Connacht semi-final clash at Pearse Stadium (6.0) between Galway and Sligo is nothing but a foregone conclusion, but even a cursory glance at the recent championship meetings between the sides, puts a completely different complexion on the encounter.

True, Galway’s Division 2 league form and their first round demolition of Roscommon in Hyde Park is entitled to make them favourites for this tie, but odds of 1/6 on the home side, hardly stack up, given the recent championship records of the two counties.

Galway were fresh and lively against Roscommon at Hyde Park but even the most ardent fan of the maroon would have to admit that Des Newton’s side put up a very poor resistance. The outcome of the game had long been decided before half-time and what followed after that just doesn’t stack up as plausible evidence.

Sligo’s only championship test this year was against New York in the Big Apple and while they cruised to a 3-21 to 0-6 success – by all accounts looking quite slick in the process – the quality of the opposition has to be seriously factored into the equation.

Of more relevance to both sides will be the meeting of the counties in the 2010 championship when Galway, under the stewardship of Joe Kernan, had to rely on a last gasp Gareth Bradshaw free to secure a draw in Pearse Stadium before falling to Sligo in the replay at Markievicz Park.

Throw Kevin Walsh into the mix, who knows all the nuts and bolts of Galway football as intimately as Alan Mulholland, and the gap between the counties is certainly nothing like the chasm being portrayed by the bookmakers.

Galway though have been playing league football at a higher level in Division 2, and despite a couple of blips along the way, were desperately unlucky not to gain promotion to Division One while Sligo struggled at times against moderate enough opposition in Division 3.

End of league form though in March and April tends to provide the best guide to championship form and Sligo finished off their campaign quite strongly, with three wins on the trot over Tipperary (1-16, 0-7), Offaly (1-14, 1-12) and Roscommon (1-12, 0-12).Sligo named their team early in the week with one of the big calls made at full back where Johnny Martyn is preferred to Noel McGuire, probably on the basis that physically he might be better able to handle the threat of Galway dangerman, Paul Conroy.

Eamon O’Hara, Tony Taylor and livewire forward David Kelly have missed out on Kevin Walsh’s first fifteen due to injury and fitness concerns, but Kelly – after a very troublesome few months with injuries – is reported to be very close to full fitness and could be making an early enough entry to the fray. He’s a man that has caused Galway a lot of problem in recent years.

O’Hara, bothered by a knee problem, is also very close to full fitness and will be a ready sideline option for Kevin Walsh who has gone for an experimental enough midfield pairing in young Shane McManus and Eugene Mullen.

Sligo do have quite a lively set of forwards with Stephen Coen, Adrian Marren, Mark Breheny and Pat Hughes all playing with a lot of confidence – as a unit they are fast moving and will relish the open spaces of Pearse Stadium.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.