Galway footballers end their Croke Park blues with league triumph

Kildare 0-16

ONE bad record had to give in the National Football League Division Two Final on Sunday whatever the outcome. Galway hadn’t won at Croke Park in 16 years; Kildare hadn’t beaten the Tribesman in a competitive fixture since 1985.

For much of a slow-burning and defensive orientated contest, it remained in doubt which county would end up banishing some demons, but ultimately Galway were the ones celebrating after landing seven of the game’s final nine scores.

Though the Galway management and players would hardly betray publicly that not winning at Croke Park since 2001 was something of a burden, privately it had to be troubling and stalking them. In that context, this deserved triumph is a big boost in the continued development of Kevin Walsh’s squad.

Galway’s performance wasn’t without blemish against the Lilywhites – their shooting was needlessly errant at times and they also dropped short a number of other efforts into the grateful arms of opposition keeper Mark Donnellan – but overall they were the balanced outfit, while also possessing the quality and character to get them over the line.

On a day when Galway remarkably had ten different scorers, their prudent use of the bench stood them in good stead too. Two of them, young Michael Daly and Gareth Bradshaw helped to give them in maroon renewed thrust when the game was there to be won, while the late introduction of the fit-again Damien Comer did no harm either.

Ties at six points each at the break, it represented something of a disappointing scenario for Galway. They had a marked edge in territory and possession, but some woeful shooting – they hit eight first-half wides – stalled their progress in a 35-minutes which was typified by chronic defensive congestion at both ends.

Though the footballing purists might have been tearing their hair out, there was more at stake than just as Division Two title. Apart from both teams ending their respective already chronicled poor runs in different aspects, the prospect of generating further momentum ahead of the championship presented an opportunity not to be spurned.

Gaelic football has undergone a radical tactical overhaul in the past decade, but both Kildare and Galway were slaves to the game’s traditional values longer than most. Both teams were capable of producing displays that were pleasing on the eye, but the orthodox 15-man game left them vulnerable to being ransacked at the back.

Full coverage in this week's Connacht Tribune