TALENTED TRIBE THAT CONQUERED A KINGDOM
BACK in April, Galway gathered the heroes of yesteryear together for an AllIreland celebration. Twenty years on from the 1998 breakthrough success, the Galmont Hotel in Galway city was the scene as the team that John O’Mahony built came together to reminisce.
That same year in 1998, Galway’s emergence from the Connacht wilderness to win a first All-Ireland in 32 years — bridging a gap back to the storied threein-a-row team of 1964-66 — dovetailed with Corofin’s milestone win in the All-Ireland club final on St Patrick’s Day.
Ray Silke, the man who wore the captain’s armband has happy memories of the 1998 final, when they ambushed favourites Kildare and the inspired part played by Jarlath Fallon’s spectacular points and Padraic Joyce’s goal.
‘Ja scored a screamer — and then he scored one from the sideline,’
he remembered. ‘To score a sideline under the Hogan Stand — I’ve never taken heroin — but it’s like a rush of adrenaline that you start saying: “this is going to be our day”. And PJ for the goal, he just slipped inside and slipped it into the back of the net. And then you start believing that this is going to happen.’
With Sunday Game presenter Michael Lyster acting as MC for the reunion and music provided by various Sawdoctors members, it was a day for nostalgia and marking the past. While the bulk of that same team went on to win again in 2001, the barren years have slipped by too quickly.
Because that is the modern story of Galway football.
Before yesterday’s Super 8s victory in Croke Park, Galway hadn’t beaten Kerry in Championship since the 1965 All-Ireland final, a glorious stop-off point on the way to a famous three-in-arow between 1964 and ’66.
There is a reason why that 1965 final (above) has been so fondly recalled, reminding Galway supporters of a time when Galway didn’t live under the Kingdom’s thumb. The counties met seven times since then, with Kerry winning six while the 2000 All-Ireland final was drawn. Yesterday was the eighth.
Galway had taken down Ulster upstarts Down on a 0-10 to 0-7 semi-final scoreline and the final would be another goalless affair, just like the previous year when the same two teams featured.
It’s often said that beating Kerry in an All-Ireland final carries an added dimension — well here was Galway pulling off that notable feat two years in a row. And that was a Kerry team that featured such luminaries as Mick O’Connell and Mick O’Dwyer.
But Galway had their own famous band of brothers — from Johnny Geraghty in goal to captain Enda Colleran to Matty McDonagh.
Points from Seamus Leyden and John Keenan contributed to a half-time score of Galway 0-7 Kerry 0-4, in a rugged affair that saw some uncompromising play from both sides go unpunished by referee Mick Loftus.
In case anyone over-romanticises the past, one moment in the video reel of the game makes for instructive viewing.
As Kerry come chasing down a narrow Galway lead late on, Mick O’Connell releases Derry O’Shea into space with a handpass.
As he races through, threatening a goal opportunity, Galway’s John Donnellan sprints back and
seizes him by the jersey before cynically hauling him to the ground. Whereupon the Kerry man takes grave offence and swings for his opponent. No black card back then. Loftus just waves them to the sideline, indicating they are sent off. Kerry substitute John ‘Thorny’ O’Shea — a brother of Derry — only saw seven minutes of action before he was sent off.
It ended with Kerry’s Denis O’Sullivan lashing out after a head-high tackle and showing he could throw a good punch as well and Galway clinging on to their lead.
The following year, Galway came back to Croke Park in September and wrote themselves into the history books by seeing off Meath.