Patience required as experimental Galway side slip to defeat to NUIG

NUI Galway 2-8Galway 1-8

Frank Farragher

There are humble times in Gaelic football when the mind tends to seek refuge in past reflections of All-Irelands being won and bonfires blazing – last Sunday in Tuam Stadium was one of those days when the distance between the starting-off point to success and the finishing line seemed an infinity apart.

It is of course early January and no time for despair as the hard miles are clocked up on the training fields, new faces are given a chance, and the faithful few supporters look for a few little clues of better times to come.

By the time the clock struck two bells on Sunday in Tuam Stadium, barely 150 souls had peppered the old stand and even for a few seconds the disc playing the national anthem threw a bit of a sulk before spluttering into melody.

Former Mayo manager John Maughan is in charge at NUIG along with ex-Galway stalwart Tomás Tierney, and for the students January is akin to the March/April period for inter-county players, with Sigerson around the corner and a lot of the hard work completed before the Christmas festivities.

It showed too last Sunday as College looked a far livelier and sharper outfit, with that little bit of extra pep in their step when it came to mopping up breaking ball or in funnelling back to defend in numbers. They gelled well as a unit too, stringing together a series of good moves through the field.

Galway are still fielding without a lot of regular names like the Joyces, Joe Bergin, Paul Conroy and Michael Meehan to mention but a few – the blooding of new players at inter-county level is a task requiring perseverance and a lot of patience.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentiniel.