Living on edge helps Tribe rise
APICTURE sometimes tells more than a 1,000 words, and the smile on Kevin Walsh’s face when the final whistle blew in Tralee on February 25 said it all.
This was more than just taking a big scalp in Kerry, it was a sign that Galway football is heading in the right direction. Of course, serious tests await against Monaghan tomorrow and Dublin on St Patrick’s weekend, but we have already seen enough to know that Galway are making postive strides.
Two points against Monaghan will more or less ensure a place in a first League final since 2006, and that in itself is good progress for a team that have struggled to make an impact in recent years.
Since losing that decider to the Kingdom there have been a lot of backwards steps as the county tried to get back to the glory days of the late nineties/ early noughties. And it’s ironic that the last time Galway beat Kerry in Tralee, Kevin himself was again at the heart of things, captaining the team and going on to win his third All-Star later that season.
Looking at his demeanour in Tralee, it was hard not to think back to the humiliation of last summer’s Connacht final defeat to Roscommon. That loss on top of the previous year’s All-Ireland quarterfinal hammering by Tipperary justifiably saw serious questions raised about the future of Galway football.
As some traditional ‘weaker’ counties were on the up, this former footballing giant was struggling to keep up with the pace. However, the first four weeks of this season suggest any such concerns were wide of the mark.
This time last year Galway struggled past Kildare in the Division 2 final, and 12 months later they find themselves level with All-Ireland champions Dublin at the top of Division 1, with the Lilywhites firmly rooted to other end of the table.
There are four key elements of their game that has improved – their gameplan, their defensive setup, the leadership on the field and the presence of scoring forwards – all ingredients that create a lethal cocktail at this level.
Just look at the previous golden era. Back in the late nineties Galway boasted a wealth of high-class forwards who could score for fun. Pádraig Joyce, Derek Savage, Niall Finnegan, Ja Fallon, these were guys that could shoot it out with the best in the country.
A bit like Jürgen Klopp’s current Liverpool squad, if they were conceding scores it often didn’t matter as they had the ability to get twice as much at the other end. And it was thrilling to watch.
Obviously Kevin Walsh’s side don’t have the same free-flowing swagger about them, but they are employing a different tactical approach that is working a charm.
They keep it tight at the back, but the transition from defence to attack is far more effective than the original defensive approach Kevin opted for a few years ago.
Granted, it’s early days in the season, but it’s tempting to suggest that all of this is pointing towards a shifting in the sands out West.
Although Galway have beaten them in the Connacht Championship, Mayo have been the high-flyers for the province for the last number of years, and at the end of each season we keep asking ourselves if they can come back again the following year.
This year, the Galway forwards have scored 4-27 from play in their four League outings – only Dublin have scored more.
They have conceded just 47 points, with no team yet raising a green flag against the Tribesmen. This is a team that are getting it right at both ends of the field.
Compare that with Mayo, whose forwards have only managed 1-7 from play.
If it wasn’t for all the exciting attacking play Galway have produced, then their incredibly stingy defence would probably be making more headlines.
Séan Andy Ó Ceallaigh’s emergence as a full-back has added real substance and he has played a massive role in just how tight and effective that defence has been.
That can also have a knockon effect and you can see some of the more established members of Walsh’s squad lifting their own performance levels, such as veteran defender Gareth Bradshaw, who was playing some of the best football of his life in the first two games this season.
The way that they are playing allows the likes of Bradshaw to get forward, and you can see how after a few years at the helm, Walsh is now completing the pieces to this jigsaw.
They have had to live on the edge at times this year and were pushed hard by both Donegal and Kerry, but going through that and still winning those games will only reinforce the belief in the squad.
The history of Galway has shown that they are well able to spring from a low ebb and suddenly find themselves mixing it with the country’s best.
This could be a very interesting year for the maroon and white.
Only Dublin forwards have scored more so far