Galway set for Orchard raid
A home venue and the arrival of a team from the higher rungs of the footballing ladder will make Saturday evening’s clash with Armagh a real D-Day encounter for Galway in their quest to reach the quarter-final stages of the All-Ireland series.
Galway won’t be over-burdened by any weight of expectation for the visit of Armagh to Pearse Stadium on Saturday evening (5pm), following two less than emphatic wins over Division 4 opponents, Tipperary and Waterford, in the previous two rounds of the qualifiers.
The big hope for Galway followers is that somehow this side can raise their game to a higher level, and modest and all as the two wins so far were, they should help to lift the confidence levels.
Armagh manager Paul Grimley took a lot of stick following his side’s first round Ulster championship defeat at the hands of Cavan – most publicly from RTE’s Joe Brolly – but they have put up massive scores in their two qualifying games.
They struck 2-21 against Wicklow in the first round and last Saturday, Armagh clocked up a quite incredible 8-13 against Leitrim, but there has to be serious question marks over the quality of the opposition provided in both encounters.
Mind you, Armagh also shot a 21 point tally in their home league win over Galway in the Athletic Grounds last April, and there does seem to be a consensus in football circles that Grimley’s side does pack a fair packet of scoring power.
Tactically they have taken stick from some critics for not adopting the blanket defensive style of play that is now synonymous with Ulster football, but given their recent scoring achievements, Galway will surely be tempted to ‘pull’ a player back in an effort to curb that strike power.
Galway manager, Alan Mulholland, has two main injury concerns for Saturday’s tie – wing forwards Michael Farragher (Corofin) and John O’Brien (Clifden) – both nursing calf ailments.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.