Galway pack a real punch, warns Sice
Corofin star says balance is right at last
IT’S THEIR miserly defence that’s set them apart so far in the Allianz League but Gary Sice claims Galway’s forwards are truly ‘frightening’ and can potentially do ‘awful damage’ this season.
After four games, the Tribesmen are the surprise joint League leaders alongside Dublin, and will be within touching distance of a rare final place if they beat visiting Monaghan on Sunday.
So far, Kevin Walsh’s defence has conceded just 47 points, less than 12 points per game, a full 10 less than Dublin. That’s provided the platform for attackers like captain Damien Comer — a ‘wrecking ball’, according to former colleague Sice — the mercurial Shane Walsh, and in form duo Eamonn Brannigan and Barry McHugh to impress.
Having got on top of Mayo in recent seasons, Galway now appear a genuine alternative to the big four of Dublin, Kerry, Mayo and Tyrone.
The really exciting part for supporters and neutrals is the ability of those forwards who are hauling a once mighty county back towards the summit of the game.
‘It’s early days but I think the forwards have the potential to do awful damage,’ said Sice, who played in Galway’s attack for 10 years before departing last winter. ‘I think if they all clicked on the one day, it would be frightening.
‘That would be fantastic to see and it would be exciting for Galway supporters, myself included, over the next couple of months to see them evolving and getting onto the harder ground and letting loose on teams.’
Sice, currently preparing for the AIB All-Ireland club final with Corofin, reckons Shane Walsh’s continued development as a Galway attacker has mirrored the rise of the group.
‘He’s the same as the team, developing all the time. He’s absolutely frightening when he gets everything together. ‘Again like the forwards overall, if the day comes when he clicks for 70 minutes he’s going to destroy someone. At the moment he’s doing it in 10, 15-minute bursts. But he’s a big part of the team, he’s fitting in nicely into the set-up and when the ground is hard and the weather is better I’m really looking forward to seeing him in action. ‘He’s 24 now, improving all the time. You can’t just expect him to drop into intercounty football, to come with the tag he’s come with, and expect him to just explode. ‘It’s exciting for every Galway supporter to watch him, every time he gets the ball, and that’s all we’re looking for in Galway — a bit of excitement, for something different,’ added Sice.
The big issue with Galway in recent seasons has been their alarming lack of consistency.
They have beaten Mayo in consecutive Connacht Championship campaigns yet followed up on both occasions with poor displays against Roscommon and were dumped out of the 2016 Championship by Tipperary. Against Kerry at Croke Park in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-finals, they were comfortably dismissed.
Danny Cummins, another of those Galway forwards, suggested ahead of this year’s return to Division 1 that they sometimes lacked the ‘cutes’ of the top counties who engage in ‘dark arts’ during games.
‘I don’t know if it’s dark arts, its just a little bit of experience I think,’ Sice, who last played for Galway in last year’s Connacht final defeat to Roscommon, said. ‘They’ve gone shoulder to shoulder with some of the bigger teams now and they are up matching up in every way.
‘So I don’t know about the dark arts but they must have done something because they are matching up to Kerry, to Tyrone, to all of these guys.
‘I think we’ve had a situation over a period of time where they’ve had to go and experience these things, to learn. You can’t just go in and pick these things up, that’s not how it works in any sport anywhere.’
Comer’s all action style in attack, and ability to pick off crucial scores, sums up Galway’s ability to mix silk with steel.
‘He’s just a wrecking ball. He’s going to have a good summer hopefully and it will be important for Galway that he does.’
Sice described the rivalry between Galway and Mayo, their neighbours and long-time rivals, as ‘genuine’ now following several years of playing second fiddle. But he rejected the claim Galway are back as a national force.
‘They were never gone away,’ he retorted. ‘It’s just that they were developing a new group.
‘That’s all it was. It just takes time. Every county goes through it. Kerry are doing it at the moment, they’re developing. I don’t think Galway were gone away too far at any stage. It’s just that redeveloping process which is necessary.
‘Hopefully there’ll be something at the end of it.’