Galway travel in hope more than expectation against the Kingdom

Focus on Galway

SUNDAY, July 30 may have been a date ringed in red for most Galway football supporters and while the journey hasn’t been without its various twists and turns, Kevin Walsh and his panel have eventually arrived at their destination.

The cliché goes that the Tribesmen are a Croke Park team and it represents a happy hunting ground. The reality is that it doesn’t stack up in modern times, however.

More than half a century has passed since Galway prevailed against Kerry in championship football and prior to April’s Division 2 final win over Kildare, they hadn’t tasted victory on Jones Road since the 2001 All-Ireland final.

Even in times of plenty, even in the glory years in the late 90s and early 00s, Kerry had their measure. The replayed final of 2000 and quarter-final of 2002 went the way of the Kingdom and while Galway played plenty of vibrant, attacking football in the monsoon-like conditions in 2008 and again in 2014, the net result was the same – Kerry with a bit tos pare.

Progress has been made under Kevin Walsh, but form still oscillates wildly. It reached the highs of last year’s Connacht success, Galway’s first since 2008, before plumbing the depths of a chastening defeat to Tipperary.

A greater level of consistency appeared to be achieved this term with a second successive win over Mayo backing up promotion, but Galway remain a volatile stock and they paid a high price for their complacency in the face of a perfectly-planned Roscommon ambush.

One step forward, two back was how Colm Cooper described Galway after their Connacht final debacle, and it was impossible to argue with that assessment.

Saturday was restorative in many respects. There was greater hunger, drive and controlled aggression in their play; the midfield battle was won and a Donegal side in transition were out-muscled. Three first half goals had the outcome secured before half-time.

Stellar displays came from Gareth Bradshaw at centre-back, Paul Conroy and Tom Flynn at midfield where Damien Comer also put his shoulder to the wheel. Sean Armstrong and championship debutant Ian Burke were full of movement and selfless play inside, while Johnny Heaney deservedly picked up the man of the match accolade for his return of 2-2.

Walsh swapped goalkeepers in Sligo after his side’s well-documented kick out struggles in Salthill, introducing Bernard Power for Ruairí Lavelle, and it was a day when Galway dominated the middle third battleground – a sector where they were obliterated by Enda Smith and company against Roscommon.

Galway will appreciate that, from Donegal’s perspective, everything that could go wrong did. Their orchestrator-in-chief Michael Murphy had a frustrating afternoon up until his rather harsh black card from referee Anthony Nolan.

That it came with all six substitutes used up compounded matters. Martin McElhinney followed soon after and the Tír Chonaill men played with 13 men for the closing half hour of action.

Chief concern, after the success of Cian Connolly and the Murtaghs, Diarmuid and Ciaráin, in the Connacht final and Paddy McBrearty last weekend is how Eoghan Kerin, Declan Kyne and Cathal Sweeney will perform against James O’Donoghue, Kieran Donaghy and Paul Geaney? Protecting their inside line is something Galway failed to do against Conor Sweeney, Michael Quinlivan and company in their last championship outing at GAA HQ.

The hope, meanwhile, from a Galway perspective is that they can generate quality possession to ignite an attack with potential, where Shane Walsh and Michael Daly are mercurial talents.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s side have been installed at 2/9, five points on the handicap line, and with all that’s gone before, it would represent the shock of the summer if their status as Dublin’s primary All-Ireland challenger isn’t intact come 5.35pm on Sunday evening.

That said Galway boss Kevin Walsh and his men won’t be turning up to Croker without ambitions of their own. Indeed, Walsh was at pains to point out after last weekend’s victory that the focus would immediately switch to the Kingdom.

“We’re not going to be in there tapping each other on the back. We’ve only a number of days to get ready so we’ll enjoy this for the next two hours and get back to the job in hand,” he said.

“We didn’t even look at Kerry before now. The feeling is relief now that things went for the players today, but they made it happen themselves. I’m just delighted for them that they brought that performance.”

As for Galway’s record against the Kingdom, Walsh feels there’s room to improve.

“I think the record mightn’t be great the last number of years,” he said.

“But this is a totally different team regardless of who done what in the past. We’ve to do as well as we can. We’re up against the league champions, probably number one or number two in the country.

“We’ve a huge task ahead. There’s no point even codding ourselves on that. We’ll do our best and it’s great to be in the last eight in particular and to beat Donegal who put two good wins back-toback. We’ll take it.”

– Billy Coss is the Sports Editor of the Tuam Herald