History stands in way of Lilies and Tribesmen
Connacht and Leinster runners-up face uphill battle in qualifiers after week spent ‘down in the dumps’
THE cold, hard facts of life for Connacht final losers leave Galway footballers facing a massive psychological challenge as they prepare for Saturday’s qualifier clash with Donegal in Markievicz Park.
It won’t be much easier for Leinster runners-up Kildare as they look ahead to their meeting with Armagh on Saturday week.
Beaten Connacht finalists have the worst record of any province in Round 4 qualifiers; winning only three of 16 games since the back-door championship format was introduced in 2001.
Their Leinster counterparts have fared little better, with four wins from 16 games, the last of which in 2009 when Kildare beat Wicklow.
Sligo (2002 v Tyrone), Mayo (2005 v Cavan) and Galway (2014 v Tipperary) were the only Connacht runners-up to win Round 4 qualifiers.
“They’re fairly stark figures alright. I suppose it shows what losing a Connacht final can do to a team’s confidence,” said former Galway dual All-Ireland medal winner Pádraic Joyce.
Dublin (2001 v Sligo), Laois (2005 v Derry), Wexford (2008 v Down) and Kildare (2009 v Wicklow) were the only Leinster runners-up to win Round 4 qualifiers.
ENCOURAGING
Ulster (nine wins, seven defeats) and Munster (eight wins, eight defeats) runners-up have fared much better, which is encouraging for Cork, who play Mayo on Saturday, and Down, who face Monaghan a week later.
All four provincial finals produced big wins, which adds to the pressure on the losers as they bid to relaunch their All-Ireland ambitions.
Galway’s case is especially acute, since unlike Cork, Kildare and Down, they were overwhelming favourites to win the Connacht final.
However, they were blitzed by Roscommon who won by nine points in what was Galway’s biggest Connacht final defeat since losing to Mayo by 16 points in 1951.
“A big defeat like that takes it out of you,” added Joyce.
“However hard you try, you’re going to be down in the dumps for a week or so. It leaves only a few days to get right for the qualifier game against a team that has a few wins behind them.
“They have a different mindset, having recovered from the provincial quarter-final or semi-final defeat,” said Joyce.
Jason Ryan presided over the most spectacular recovery from any provincial final defeat when Wexford beat Down in a qualifier two weeks after losing the 2008 Leinster final to Dublin by 23 points.
Wexford later beat Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final before losing the semi-final to Tyrone. Ryan believes that the attitude of the Wexford players was central to getting back on track after the Dublin defeat.
“We had some great leaders in that Wexford squad, which was very important. After getting to the Leinster final for the first time in many years and then losing heavily to Dublin, it would have been easy to accept that the season was over but we had enough leaders around to start the refocusing process immediately, even before we left Croke Park.
“We all learned a lot from the Dublin game so it was either a matter of putting it to good use or wasting it. We put it to the best use we could and were able to come back quite quickly. It can be done if the belief is there,” said Ryan.
Galway manager Kevin Walsh will be looking for a similar response from his squad. Joyce was as puzzled as the rest of Galway by the poor performance against Roscommon but suspects that the aftermath of beating Mayo for a second successive year could have been a factor.
“Most people thought after the Mayo game that Galway would win the Connacht final, especially after the way they beat Roscommon last year. That can get through to players however hard they try to ignore it,” said Joyce.
Despite that big setback, he believes that Galway could beat Donegal if they play to their full capabilities.
“That’s the big question. Will they be able to put the Roscommon game behind them and get back to their best? Inconsistency has been an issue for Galway, not just over the last year or two, but for ten years. Most people think Donegal will beat them but that’s the very time they could turn it on,” said Joyce.
Having played on three Galway teams that lost Round 4 qualifiers in 2006 (Westmeath), 2007 (Meath) and 2009 (Donegal), he knows how difficult it can be to readjust after losing a provincial final.
“Apart from the disappointment of losing and the knock to your confidence, you’re coming up against a team with a few wins. They’re thinking that if you lost your last game, you can lose the next one too,” said Joyce.
“It’s even worse when you’re coming off a big defeat. Donegal will be looking at Galway and saying, ‘if that’s what happened them against Roscommon, why should we have any fears, especially since we beat them in the qualifiers before?’
“Galway have to put all that out of their minds and get back to the positive mindset that helped them beat Mayo for the last two years. If they do, they have a great chance,”
Ryan agrees that how players react mentally is crucial to their prospects after a provincial final defeat.
“In Galway’s case, they had a very good year up to the Roscommon game, winning promotion to Division 1 and beating Mayo,” he said.
“They’ll be thinking, ‘we were on the right lines, everything can’t have gone from us in one game, what have we learned from the Connacht final and how will be make it count?’ That will be very important for them.”
Donegal have beaten Galway in their last three championship clashes (2015 and 2009 qualifiers and a 2003 All-Ireland quarter-final replay).