Galway’s hard grafting helps to tear the Rossies asunder
THE build-up to Galway’s ninth point in the Connacht Final replay, in a nutshell, tells us a lot about the character of this team.
It came in the 30th minute, when Galway, having torn Roscommon asunder from the off, were 2-8 to 0-3 in front.
Paul Conroy was challenging in the air for possession with his Roscommon midfield counterpart, Cathal Compton, from Darren O’Malley’s kick-out.
The St James’ clubman had no right to get it. But the ball broke and Conroy stretched every inch of his body along the ground to get a foot to it ahead of Compton; it hit off him and bounced out of play for a Galway sideline.
From there, Johnny Heaney combined with Damien Comer, who was fouled again, and Shane Walsh converted the free.
A dirtier ball you’re unlikely to see. It wasn’t even a 50/50 ball. It was 80/20 stacked in favour of the Roscommon man. And when you’re 11 points up and cruising, it was easier for Conroy to just let Compton have it.
But that sort of work-rate and sheer stubbornness and unwillingness to concede possession was one of the main reasons Galway was leading by that margin in the first place.
Kevin Walsh in his playing days wouldn’t have shied away from stretching every sinew for that ball – his fingerprints were all over the work rate and industry shown by his charges all day.
The Galway forwards pushed up, narrowed the options, which seemed to throw O’Malley, who had successfully deployed a short kick-out strategy to corner-backs in the drawn game the week previous in Salthill.
Conroy is one of the finest exponents of high fielding in the game, and so as well as scrapping for breaks, he soared at centre-field to catch fine first-half kick-outs cleanly.
Thomas Flynn had a big impact on proceedings, too, winning four kick-outs in the opening half. His goal against Mayo was a game-changer in the provincial semi-final but there was much more to admire about the way he applied himself, and threw himself into the action, in Castlebar last Sunday. Roscommon midfielder Niall Daly, who was influential in the drawn game at Pearse Stadium, was almost anonymous in the replay as Flynn and Conroy destroyed Roscommon at midfield.
That centre-field platform secured sufficient possession to allow the forwards to run amuck. Just like the drawn game, the conversion rate of chances in the first 10 or 12 minutes was slack – the forwards always looked lively though, scoring three points, even if they recorded three wides and two shots dropping short in that opening period.
The devastating spell came between the 20th and 30th minute when Galway hit 2-5 against a solitary white flag. Goalkeeper Bernard Power soloed out to his own ‘45 before clearing up field, it fell kindly to in-form Eamonn Brannigan and he laid it off to Danny Cummins, whose finish was top-class. Ruthless, the Claregalway man’s strike had power and precision that proved unstoppable.
It’s funny how it could be contender for goal of the year, and yet still it may not have been the best goal of this match. Gary Sice’s one that followed was also an absolute cracker, although Fintan Cregg will have nightmares about the dummy he bought and the ease at which he allowed the Galway forward shimmy by him before pulling the trigger.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.