Hard to be hopeful about Galway’s GAA teams in 2014

Even the county’s GAA optimists are struggling to put a positive spin on the championship prospects of the Galway hurlers and footballers for 2014. And it’s hard to blame them either after a forgettable summer for the Tribesmen in both codes – arguably one of the most disappointing in living memory.

The facts, quite frankly are hard to ignore. Look at the footballers, for instance. After a worrying campaign in Division Two of the National League which saw them suffering  defeats to Louth, Laois and Armagh, Galway simply didn’t turn up for their Connacht championship opener against Mayo at Pearse Stadium last May and were beaten out the gate.

Mayo’s 19 point victory (4-16 to 0-11) was a humiliating result for their arch provincial rivals. Galway were so bad on the day it was almost embarrassing, typified by the manner in which opposition centre back Donal Vaughan was allowed to stroll through for one of the reigning champions’ opening-half goals. Leaderless and rudderless, Alan Mulholland’s squad were shockingly out of their depth.

The All-Ireland qualifiers may have been six weeks away, but the morale of local football supporters was already at breaking point and they had little interest or appetite for being subjected to further torment or the terraces. They had no hope for Galway and, to be honest, were probably fearful of what lay around the corner, although drawing Munster minnows Tipperary initially postponed that sense of foreboding.

If the Galway fans were troubled by the collapse to Mayo, can you imagine what the players were going through? They had prepared hard for that game and, yet, were so badly beaten that they would have ended up questioning everything. Team captain Gareth Bradshaw heading to the United States would have eroded morale further, but the rest of them stuck together in the most trying of circumstances and, significantly, there was no public blame game either.

But things were to get worse before they got better. Galway made heavy work of overcoming Tipperary by four points in Pearse Stadium before scraping over a Paul Whyte inspired Waterford by 1-12 to 0-14 at the same venue. Both teams had already been thrashed by Kerry in the Munster championship with Waterford falling to the Kingdom by 4-21 to 1-4. Galway may have been winning, but the perception was that they were still falling to a modern day low.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.