Defiant Galway dig deep to thwart Tyrone in league tie

Tyrone 0-12

THE straws in the wind were largely blowing in a negative direction ahead of Galway’s long trek to Omagh for Sunday’s third round Division One football clash.

Down four of their five All-Stars – John Daly being the notable exception – from the Tribesmen’s All-Ireland Final year of 2022, that season’s Young Footballer of the Year, and their team captain, Galway arrived in Healy Park with their backs to the wall.

When you throw in no win from their previous four competitive outings – including last year’s narrow championship losses to Armagh and Mayo – the men in maroon faced a massive challenge in trying to record their first league victory of the campaign.

Fortunately, Tyrone had their own problems with front-line absentees, together with coming off the back of a trimming from Derry, but they had home advantage and the in-form but busy Darragh Canavan in their ranks. Another lift was the eleventh-hour availability of the long-serving Peter Harte.

By half-time, an unedifying spectacle – especially if you were a traditionalist – was basically going to the pre-match script despite Galway having 65% possession. They were two points in arrears, hadn’t scored for over 20 minutes and lacked a cutting edge going forward.

In fact, only for the significant early scoring contribution of Rob Finnerty, Galway would have been in an even bigger hole. They were far too lateral in possession – possibly, the result of having too many players ahead of the ball – and spurned a couple of routine opportunities when every score was already looking precious.

To compound the situation, Paul Conroy – their only other scorer than Finnerty in that tedious first-half – was sidelined for the concluding 35 minutes. It all pointed to only one outcome, but Galway managed to defy the odds by somehow scraping home.

Pictured: Galway's s Johnny Heaney on the ball against Tyrone's Aidan Clarke during the Allianz Football League Division 1 clash at Healy Park on Sunday.