GALWAY STOOP TO RECONQUER
Tribesmen flex muscles to grind out win against 14-man Mayo
THE novelty of Galway putting manners on Mayo in early summer has turned into a trend after a third win on the bounce at Castlebar yesterday.
But it is fair to assume that, once they retreated to the privacy of their dressing room, Kevin Walsh will have wasted little time in framing their achievement with some hard-earned perspective.
In the previous two years, Galway’s toes were long curled up while Mayo were still stretching their limbs into deep summer, and, in the end, the difference between being a detour and a roadblock is the difference between being a nuisance and a nemesis.
So why should this not be any different?
Maybe it won’t. If this amounted to changing of the guard in the west, it was whispered rather than megaphoned.
Then again, it was a hard game to shout about. The best thing that could be said was that it retained its intrigue right to the painful end when in the fifth minute of injury time, three subs — Adrian Varley, Sean Kelly and Ian Burke— combined to release Johnny Heaney, who crashed to the roof of the Mayo net.
It was the one and only goal chance in a contest suffocated by caution and choked by fear.
Was it deserved? Yes, just about but more than anything for the few neutrals in the 29,449 attendance it was a source of relief as there was little to relish in the prospect of 20 added minutes extra for free.
Still, this is the way the game rolls when the stakes are this high and the significance of the result extends beyond a third win in row, which is the first time Galway have enjoyed that kind of sustained dominance over their neighbours since they won four on the bounce between 1982 and 1987.
What was different this time was that this victory carried no sense of an ambush, like Castlebar two years ago. It did, however, carry a strong echo of Mayo’s ill-discipline in Pearse Stadium, as Diarmuid O’Connor retraced Keith Higgins’s walk of shame 12 months ago after his jutting elbow met flush with the face of Paul Conroy in the 28th minute.
What made this different and better this time for Galway was that they arrived here as the team carrying the form and delivered on that expectation.
It will hardly concern Kevin Walsh that they won’t tease too many compliments from neutrals, given that they had their fill of how they were easy on the eye and easy to beat for the bones of two decades.
They stayed true to their defensively-nuanced game-plan here, but imposed it with such a physical edge that their entire full-back line had been cautioned inside the opening 24 minutes.
Being nice gets you nowhere, but what makes Galway different is that they are built to play the game both ways.
Damien Comer was once more their target of choice yesterday, where he gave the unfortunate Chris Barrett who replaced Ger Cafferkey — one of two pre-match Mayo changes which also saw Jason Doherty come in for the hamstrung Cillian O’Connor — a torrid opening half.
His ball-winning power and speed was such that he had his fingerprints on four of Galway’s seven first-half points — scoring two, providing the assist for another and drawing a foul for one of Barry McHugh’s three converted frees.
Yet, he would not even prove to be Galway’s best player because, while Comer’s influence would fade in the second half, rookie midfielder Ciaran Duggan was a powerhouse around the middle of the field, his influence extending far beyond the two points he kicked.
After that, though, there was only the impact from the bench to catch the eye — where Sean Kelly, Ian Burke, Eamonn Brannigan and Peter Cooke all had a profound impact and Tom Flynn managed a crucial catch and match-sealing point after coming back on in the final two minutes for the black-carded Cooke.
However, in a summer which will test the depth of the top panels that impact more than any other reason made this feel like a turning point in this rivalry.
Where Galway possessed a match-changing bench, Mayo had a half-fit O’Connor and nothing else.
O’Connor would eventually come on, but in the most traumatic of circumstances as a replacement for another of their stellar talents, Tom Parsons who was stretchered off in the 49th minute with a dislocated knee that is likely to end his summer.
With Lee Keegan still recovering from a shoulder injury, it is hard to see, with ever-decreasing resources how Mayo can keep dodging bullets. Seven of the starting team are in their 30s which makes you wonder what the future holds.
To be fair, some of them excelled here. Barrett, although he may have been assisted by a knock which Comer received early in the second-half, rallied strongly, Paddy Durcan had a fine game which saw him involved in three of his team’s last four points while Andy Moran grabbed a brace of scores in an otherwise toothless attack.
Above all, though, Kevin McLoughlin was a relentless force and, when he fired over the equalising point in the second minute of injury time to leave the teams at 0-11 apiece, there was a real prospect they could buy time.
O’Connor’s impact was felt, too, he set up Moran for a point with a delightful cross-field pass and whipped over another beauty of his own on an afternoon where it was in short supply.
The thing is that it felt more like a brief reminder of their good old days, rather than an indicator of what is to come. GALWAY: R Lavelle; D Kyne (E Brannigan 61), SA Ó Ceallaigh, E Kerin; G O’Donnell, G Bradshaw (J Duane 69), C Sweeney; P Conroy (P Cooke 29, T Flynn 70+5) , C Duggan; J Heaney, B McHugh (A Varley 70+3) T Flynn (S Kelly 63), S Walsh, D Comer, S Armstrong (I Burke 58). Scorers: J Heaney 1-0, B McHugh 0-3 (3f), D Comer, C Duggan 0-2, S Walsh 0-2 (1f), T Flynn, S Armstrong, S Kelly 0-1. Wides: (2) 6. Frees: (7) 14. Yellow cards: E Kerin (4), SA Ó Ceallaigh (20), D Kyne (26). Black card: P Cooke (70+5) MAYO: D Clarke; E O’Donoghue (B Harrison 70+3), C Barrett, P Durcan; K Higgins, C Boyle, S Coen; S O’Shea (C Hanley 69), T Parsons (C O’Connor 51); K McLoughlin, A O’Shea, D O’Connor; J Doherty (J Durcan 63), A Moran (D Vaughan 70+2), C Loftus (D Drake 60). Scorers: C Loftus 0-3 (3f), K McLoughlin, A Moran, C O’Connor 0-2 (1f), K Higgins, D O’Connor, T Parsons 0-1. Wides: (6) 11. Frees: (8) 14. Yellow cards: J Doherty (26), C O’Connor (70+3), C Barrett (70+6). Red card: D O’Connor (28). Referee: C Lane (Cork).