Galway kick off title hunt against Leitrim
THE Galway senior footballers make their championship bow on Saturday when facing off against Leitrim in the Connacht semi-final at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada (3:30pm), writes Eanna O'Reilly.
Pádraic Joyce’s charges are on the hunt for a fifth consecutive Connacht title, a feat only once previously achieved by the Tribesmen (1956-1960).
Leitrim, fresh from their unexpected victory over Sligo a fortnight ago, will be buoyed by that result over their neighbours and will undoubtedly have a boisterous home support in Carrick-on-Shannon. They produced a superb performance in their 3-15 to 1-20 win at Markievicz Park, from which they will take great momentum.
One man in the Galway camp who knows Saturday’s opponents very well is coach Mickey Graham. The Cavan native is in his second year as part of the Galway set up, prior to which he was involved in the Leitrim management under Andy Moran.
The nature of Graham’s departure from Leitrim shortly after being announced as Moran’s managerial successor drew an element of controversy in the north-west. The local media on Ocean FM were quick to make reference to it on air following Leitrim’s win over Sligo. However, Graham had no interest whatsoever in responding to such comments this week.
‘‘Look, its old news,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s well in the past now, it was two years ago. It’s water under the bridge and we’ve all moved on. It’s important when you’re going into big games like this not to let outside noise seep in and affect your focus on the job at hand. I’m around long enough to know that outside noise really doesn’t affect me.’’
Following a highly successful spell as manager of his native county, Graham spent two years involved with Leitrim and he is well aware of the quality of players within the county, having seen it first-hand.
There’s a lot of talent in Leitrim. The likes of Barry McNulty, Ryan O’Rourke, Aidan O’Rourke, Mark Divilly, I could go through the whole squad
‘‘There’s a lot of talent in Leitrim. The likes of Barry McNulty, Ryan O’Rourke, Aidan O’Rourke, Mark Divilly, I could go through the whole squad. I know they’re all really good, dedicated lads. They have the challenges that go with having a small population and it’s really important for them as a county to have all of their best players available. That really seems to be happening now, and they were fully deserving of their win [over Sligo].’’
Graham feels that Galway’s preparation has gone very well since the conclusion of their league campaign, and that their recent training camp in Portugal was very beneficial to the players.
‘‘It was great to get that block of training for five weeks after the league. Last year we were straight into a match in New York, and then we had Roscommon shortly after. So, we had no real time to get the same level of training work done. This time around, we’ve gotten through a huge amount of work on and off the field [in Portugal].’’
‘‘It was great for the lads, especially the new lads in the squad this year, to get more familiar with each other. Because the league schedule is so hectic, you don’t really get the chance to do that. So, it was great for lads to be able to have that time together and get closer as a group.’’
Regarding the league, Graham felt that Galway met a number of important objectives during their Division 1 campaign, which should stand to them going into the championship.
‘‘I think we got a lot out of it in terms of blooding new players. A lot of new lads got game time and experience. It’s really all about building depth in the squad, because once the championship starts the games come thick and fast. If you’re picking up knocks every week, you want to be able to call on lads to make an impact.’’
‘‘We were very competitive in every game whether we got a result or not. Overall, we’d be quite happy with the league, and we feel now that we just need to lift it another notch and bring the intensity levels up for championship. But you can see the lads themselves are driving it every night in training.’’
The Cavan native feels that targeting another Connacht title is a key step in Galway’s championship journey in 2026, and that the less congested schedule which follows a provincial win is the ideal way to progress.
‘‘It’s all about Leitrim in Carrick for us now and that’s what our focus is on. With the championship format that we have now, I think it’s really important to try and go the direct route. If you win your province, you have the benefit of a couple of extra weeks afterwards which can be crucial for dealing with injuries,’’ he concluded.