Footballers' lack of leaders is exposed again in Drogheda
Date Published: 27-Feb-2013
Dara Bradley in Drogheda
THE Galway senior footballers are in danger of earning the unwanted reputation of being a one-half – a first half – team.
Worryingly, and inexplicably, for the second Division Two National Football League clash in a row in 2013, the Tribesmen experienced a second half collapse.
Against Derry in the league opener at Pearse Stadium, Alan Mulholland’s charges conceded ten points in an alarming fade-out after the break but, at least, hung on for victory, thanks mostly to the magic of Michael Meehan, who scored 1-5.
Against Louth on Saturday in Drogheda, Galway conceded nine points after half time and were deservedly beaten by six after another sluggish, sub-standard second 35 minutes’ display.
If you add in patchy performances in the FBD League, where the good was mixed with the mediocre, Galway’s season so far has been characterised by inconsistency.
In fact, it’s a tad generous to say Galway were ‘good’ in the opening half against the Wee County because for the guts of it, the away team were in deep, deep trouble – 13 minutes in and Galway were 0-6 to 0-2 in arrears, and struggling to get a foothold.
That they dug deep and engineered themselves out of that hole to go in level at the break, and put themselves right back in contention, makes Galway’s second half no-show all the more frustrating.
It’s tempting to suggest the reason Galway are running out of steam during competition is because they’re knackered from going hell for leather in pre and early season training; and that that hard graft will bear fruit towards the end of the league and in the Summer. We’ll see.
The first touch of the likes of Seán Armstrong, for example, wasn’t close to what you’d expect from someone of his talent; and other experienced guys, in what was a relatively young team, made uncharacteristic howlers – there were many on the day but a couple of handling errors and wayward passes from Gary Sice and Niall Coleman spring to mind – suggesting Galway are not yet up to the pace this early in the year.
But there appeared to be deeper problems than a lack of sharpness. It was a second-half display devoid of leadership all over the park: When the tide began to turn in Louth’s favour, when Paddy Keenan, Brian White and substitutes Ciaran Byrne and Derek Maguire, began to turn the screw, Galway were crying out for on-field guidance, desperate for key players to step-up and influence the course of proceedings. It didn’t happen.
Galway lost their shape in the second-half, too. Another problem, which isn’t as fixable, is Galway lacked physicality – a bigger, more robust Louth outfit took full advantage of their superior size against the younger, slighter opponents. The other woes evident on Saturday, which were positional and of personnel, will be all too familiar to Galway football followers.
For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.