Galway footballers have much work to do

Date Published: {J}

IT’S doubtful if Galway footballers have dug themselves out of a bigger hole in modern times than they defiantly did at Pearse Stadium last Sunday. Five points in arrears as a wind-spoiled Connacht championship semi-final drifted into injury time, the Tribesmen somehow managed to live and fight for another day.

Sure, Galway were extremely fortunate – on the run of the game – to force a replay against Sligo at Markievicz Park, but they had gone two months without a competitive fixture while the harsh dismissal of Sean Armstrong early in the second-half compounded the difficulties for the home team who could only manage a solitary point from play in a forgettable opening-half for Joe Kernan’s charges.

Once again, it was the long serving Padraic Joyce who ultimately bailed Galway out of trouble. Apart from his tally of six points, including a cracking individual effort in the 49th minute, it was his pass which paved the way for young Eoin Concannon’s excellently taken goal in injury time. Moments later a trip on Michael Meehan led to wing back Gareth Bradshaw to sending over the equaliser from a close range free.

Not even the team’s most optimistic supporter could have imagined such a dramatic turnaround in the closing minutes and hundreds of them had already departed the ground before the men in maroon pulled the game out of the fire. It doesn’t really matter that this was a largely sluggish and laboured display from Galway as the bottom line in sport is the result.

Granted, they will have to show a major improvement for Saturday evening’s replay, but that’s the challenge now for the team management and players over the coming days. Galway could have had no complaints if they had been beaten on home soil by Sligo for the first time since 1923, but they hung in there and must be given huge credit for the character and resilience they showed in rescuing a desperate situation.

I hate match days which are dictated by a strong wind. There is no magic formula in these situations as teams wrestle with the decision whether to use the elements or not if they win the toss. At half-time last Sunday, Galway were in a bad place, trailing by 1-8 to 0-2, with many of their players peripheral figures as wind-backed Sligo gradually took a hold of the exchanges.

Frankly, for much of the second-half it appeared that Galway didn’t possess the tactical ingenuity or intensity to haul Sligo back, especially with Kevin Walsh deploying extra man Eamon O’Hara in front of his own posts. Some errant shooting wasn’t helping Galway’s cause either and until Padraic Joyce caught fire with three critical points in quick succession in the third quarter, they had all the appearances of men who believed salvaging a result was beyond them.

Joyce’s scoring burst allowed Galway to hang in there but when man of the match, fleet-footed corner forward David Kelly, fired over his third point to put Sligo five up in the 69th minute, it appeared odds on that we were about to have the first Connacht final not featuring Galway or Mayo since Roscommon defeated Sligo in the provincial decider of 1947.

Somehow, Galway possessed enough bottle and heart to save the day. Joyce sent over his third point of play before combining with Joe Bergin to put Concannon in the clear for that priceless goal. Though there was now only less than a minute of injury time remaining, it was virtually inevitable that Galway would manage to engineer the equaliser and that’s what exactly Michael Meehan, introduced as a second-half substitute, did.

For more, see this week's Connacht Tribune.