Something different about Galway as Kerry find out

Even when Galway footballers knocked out Mayo in the Connacht championship over the past two years, there was no great sense of expectation that the Tribesmen were ready to challenge the sport’s heavy hitters. That realism proved well founded as the county exited at the quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland title race in 2016 and ’17 in disappointing losses to Tipperary and Kerry respectively

That mood is understandably changing, however, on the back of Galway’s terrific start to this year’s National League campaign which has seen them already claim the notable scalps of Tyrone, Mayo and Donegal before they travelled down to Tralee last Sunday and carved out a fully-merited victory over Kerry. Sure, they were hanging on in a desperate finish and were indebted to a fine double reflex save from Ruairi Lavelle, but over the balance of the 77-plus minutes, the men in maroon were significantly the better team.

In fact, only for a series of spurned goal chances, Galway would have carried the day in really convincing style. Kerry custodian Brian Kelly denied both Cathal Sweeney and Shane Walsh; Eamonn Brannigan blazed another close-range effort just over the crossbar; raiding full back Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh screwed a great chance wide; while Sean Armstrong mis-directed a hand-pass to Walsh when the visitors had another goal at their mercy.

In hindsight, it’s just as well that Galway missed out on a goal blitz as the hype about them would be going into overdrive. Going down to Austin Stack Park and coming away with a victory in any circumstances takes a bit of doing, but deep-down Galway will draw huge encouragement from the way the match panned out as they took Kerry apart at times and the final score-line of 1-14 to 0-14 came nowhere near to reflecting their overall superiority.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.