Pressure mounts on î Flatharta after loss to Meath

Dara Bradley

THE Galway Football Board will gauge the mood of club delegates before making any decisions on the future of senior football manager Tomás Ó Flatharta after another All-Ireland championship exit by the county well before Race Week.

Ó Flatharta succeeded Joe Kernan as manager last year and was appointed for a three year stint with a review at the end of each year – but with Galway’s report card showing seven defeats and just one win and one draw in seven league and two championship outings, the Kerry man’s position looks perilous.

Apart from blooding some young underage talent such as U21 All-Ireland winners Johnny Duane and Colin Forde who battled gamely in Saturday’s defeat to Meath in Navan, Galway football took a leap backwards since the lows of the 2010 season and ‘that’ depressing defeat to Wexford in Pearse Stadium last Summer.

It is difficult to see how Ó Flatharta could survive after this campaign: relegation to Division Two in the league and exiting the Connacht Championship after an inept display against Mayo was followed on Saturday by a another one-point defeat in injury-time in the qualifiers, this time against a very average Meath outfit.

Galway entered this encounter not having won a qualifier match since beating Louth in 2004 (they lost to Westmeath, Meath, Donegal and Wexford in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 respectively) and that wretched vein of form continued at the weekend as the Tribesmen recorded its eighth one-point championship defeat since the glory days of winning the 2001 All-Ireland title.

On Saturday, Galway looked further away from the top tier of championship contenders than ever although the experience should stand to the U21 players on the panel in campaigns to come.

Meath could have been out of sight at half-time but were only 0-8 to 0-4 up at the break thanks in the main to their woeful shooting. Galway somehow clawed their way back into the match and looked to have robbed an unlikely victory when raiding defender Duane put them one point up in the 67th minute but Meath’s renowned never-say-die attitude prevailed and they hit back with a brace from Brian Farrell and Stephen Bray.

Cormac Bane’s effort at winning the match with the last kick was denied by Meath ‘keeper Brendan Murphy – the Caherlistrane man didn’t seem to have the time to fist it over to force extra-time and Galway’s season to forget ended in premature failure again.

Speaking to reporters in the aftermath of the defeat, Ó Flatharta said marksman Bane took the correct option. “He was very close to the goalkeeper and whether he could have punched it or not, there was a goal opportunity on and I think he did the right thing in going for it.

Nine times out of 10 Cormac would have scored that. He had a good game and we’re not looking for any scapegoats. We go down as a team, that’s the way we do it,” said Ó Flatharta.

The Kerry native wasn’t available for comment all this week and did not return calls to the Tribune to impart his views to the football faithful in the county about the year just gone or his vision for the future but it was expected that some delegates would call for Ó Flatharta’s head when they convened at yesterday’s (Wednesday) monthly Football Board meeting.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.