Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FINIAN: THERE IS A LONG WAY TO GO..
Galway v Mayo
Tomorrow Pearse Stadium, 2pm
GALWAY have made up considerable ground but they’re still striving to overtake Mayo, says former Tribe defender Finian Hanley.
Galway may have sent their big rivals tumbling out of Connacht in each of the last two years but Mayo went on to progress much further in the All-ireland race while their conquerors exited with a whimper. Hanley, who retired in December, said: “We needed to wrestle back some bit of the pie from Mayo.
“They had beaten us how many years on the trot and it was a long time since Galway won a Connacht title so that had to be done really first before we were to move in any other direction.
“Galway as a whole would be very disappointed with the way we’ve performed at the latter end of the Championship, especially last year.
“Taking huge beatings to Kerry and Roscommon and obviously Tipperary the year before... it’s grand beating Mayo but one swallow doesn’t make a summer.”
A win for Galway tomorrow would see them secure a third successive victory over Mayo for the first time since 2008, after which Mayo won eight on the bounce against them.
Reflecting on that run of losses, Hanley said: “We were still thinking that we could tip out onto the pitch and we’ll get the win just on ability alone, whereas that wasn’t the case.
“Teams were changing and working a lot harder, the Tyrones, the Mayos, the Dublins, even the Kerrys, great traditionalists, were putting shoulders to the wheel in the gym and diets and what have you.
“Not all of our lads were putting the shoulder to the wheel in that regard and that was the reason for the change.”
One day that sticks in the mind was a 17-point defeat in the 2013 Championship when Hanley was captain, albeit absent through injury.
“That’s when they were cementing themselves as a real contender for the All-ireland.
“We just weren’t able to cope with them that day and basically they steamrollered us down in Pearse Stadium. It was definitely one of the lowest days that I’ve been involved with Galway.”
Hanley (inset) credits current boss Kevin Walsh with bringing Galway in line with modern trends as they’ve returned to Division One and a third victory from as many games tomorrow would leave them virtually safe from the drop.
“Kevin’s mantra was to come in and bring Galway to the level of other teams, more of a cynical style of play where now Galway are playing with mostly bodies behind the ball and counter attacking football.
“It was probably the way it had to be, to get that defensive mindset because we were competitive in a lot of games but we were shipping a lot of scores because of the wide open spaces we were playing in.”
He added: “Mayo have a lot of injuries and Galway are probably that bit ahead for this time of year, obviously first year back in the division and I think they’ll be looking to solidify that and push on.”
VERDICT: Galway