U-21 Gaelic footballers show plenty of promise despite defeat in All-Ireland final
All good things must come to an end. It’s only early May and already the Gaelic footballers of Galway’s U-21 squad has provided enough entertainment for an entire season with their roller-coaster All-Ireland odyssey.
Ultimately, it culminated in defeat to Dublin in Tullamore on Saturday but taken in its entirety, this was, without a doubt, a very positive campaign for Gerry Fahy’s charges.
Any year you win a provincial title by beating Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo along the way, is a good year. Added to that was an audacious All-Ireland semi-final triumph over the might of Kerry, who, pre-tournament, were chalked down as the probable competition winners.
The Tribesmen celebrated that day in Ennis as if it were an All-Ireland final but unfortunately couldn’t follow it up with a victory over Dublin in the real decider.
It’s not the losing that will rankle. Both teams can’t win. It’s the fact that the Tribesmen just never got into their groove that will be a cause for regret in the days and weeks ahead.
There’s no shame in losing to Dublin – the Leinster champions were worthy winners – it’s just Galway will feel they didn’t give it their best shot. For whatever reason, they started both halves slowly, struggled to settle, and were punished for lapses in concentration.
And for all that, and for all the talk of Dublin dominating, it was still a match of fine margins.
Who will forget Ruairí Greene’s shot at goal that flashed by several bodies, deceiving the Dublin defence and goalkeeper, only to be denied by the bottom of the post?
Dublin are deserved champions of the last-ever U-21 championship, but if corner-back Greene’s shot had been a couple of inches to the right, Galway would have been trailing by just a point, with five minutes remaining. Then it’s anyone’s game.
Instead, the ball bounced back off the woodwork; Galway skewed a subsequent free; and Dublin raced down the other end on the counterattack, with Con O’Callaghan bagging their second goal, which sealed the deal.
“Unfortunately, I think from a technical point of view today we were just off the boil, made a lot of basic errors,” conceded Galway boss Gerry Fahy.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.