It’s time for footballers to end the uncertainty about summer hopes
Inside Track with John McIntyre
THERE’S such a divergence of opinion on the real worth of Galway footballers that nearly nothing would surprise us in Sunday’s Connacht final at Pearse Stadium – a fourth consecutive showdown against Roscommon. Some think the Tribesmen are an outside bet All-Ireland glory; others think they mightn’t even reach the Super 8s; while the remainder haven’t a clue what the men in maroon are capable of.
One thing for sure, we should all be a little wiser after Sunday’s battle in Salthill – the scene of an unexpected Rossies’ ambush two years ago when the Enda Smith inspired underdogs captured the county’s 23rd provincial crown by a commanding nine-point margin (2-15 to 0-12). Galway just simply didn’t fire in that final.
Although they managed to turn the tables on Roscommon at Hyde Park 12 months ago, you can still imagine that the Galway camp will be charged up to atone for what happened on their own soil in 2017. They are strong favourites to carry the day, but anyone who thinks Kevin Walsh’s squad is already past the post hasn’t been paying much attention this summer.
There is also the Anthony Cunningham issue. Thrown out of the Galway hurling manager’s post by a players’ revolt little more than two months after leading the county to a second All-Ireland final, he wouldn’t be human if not seeing Sunday as an opportunity to gain some revenge on the local GAA hierarchy.
Cunningham, twice an All-Ireland medal winner with the hurlers as a player, subsequently linked up with Dublin in 2017 as a coach and when manager Pat Gilroy, who had switched codes in the other direction, stepped aside, the smart money was on the St Thomas’ clubman taking over. Instead, the Dubs went for another Galway native, Mattie Kenny, who ironically had been by Cunningham’s side on their march to the All-Ireland final in 2012.
If that was a disappointing outcome for Cunningham, he didn’t have much time to dwell on the outcome as Roscommon footballers came knocking on his door. They would have known about him from his successful tenure with St Brigid’s, so the approach wasn’t quite as leftfield as some observers made out at the time.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.