A big result for Galway but still not the finished article

THOUGH Pádraic Joyce has been unfortunate with how the Covid pandemic has impacted his time in charge of the Galway senior footballers, there was little doubt that three years into his reign, Joyce needed a big result and performance to show things were heading in the right direction and he certainly got that at the weekend.

Galway were far from perfect in the win against Mayo, allowing their opponents back into a contest that should have been put to bed much earlier, but there were enough positives on show to believe that Sunday’s win could be another in a long line of important victories in Castlebar.

One of the most pleasing aspects for Joyce will be that the areas he and his management team have clearly worked on in recent weeks showed signs of improvement. The league defeats to Roscommon exposed two major flaws in Galway’s play, defensive structure and kickout strategy, and Joyce’s side made progress in both areas on Sunday, though there is a lot of room for improvement.

Defensively, Galway set out to make sure Mayo wouldn’t be able to run through them. Since taking charge, Joyce has generally relied on his defenders winning their individual battles, opting against giving his defence any added protections but in Castlebar on Sunday it was clear that both Dylan McHugh and Kieran Molloy were given instruction to drift off their wing when Mayo had possession and protect the central lanes. With the half-forward line dropping deep to add cover when needed, it gave Galway a solidity that they’ve lacked since Joyce took charge.

The system was very much a work in progress, however, as evidenced by the almost constant instruction coming from Cian O’Neill to his defenders. Joyce rued the silly fouls conceded when Galway defenders had their opponents surrounded or facing the wrong way. With McHugh and Molloy tucked in, Mayo were also able to make inroads along the sidelines in the first half, particularly the right-hand side, most notably for Jason Doherty’s penalty shout after five minutes and Ryan O’Donoghue’s equaliser in the 29th minute.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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