Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A SHOT IN THE DARK
Tribesmen coming to terms with art of war says Meehan ahead of ultimate test
LAST November, as he reflected on what Galway needed to do to move from being a quarter-final team to a real contender, Danny Cummins referenced “the dark arts”.
“I suppose everyone chats about it but no one really says boo about it,” said the Galway forward.
“When I watch, say, a game in Connacht, whether I am playing or just watching, and then I watch an All-ireland semi-final or final, the amount of stuff you see going on, you say, ‘How does this happen?’ or, ‘How does this lad get away with that?’ But, at that level, it is just part and parcel of it and you need to experience it.
“I have small bits of experience with it. Maybe as a panel we have bits and pieces of it. As a full team, we definitely haven’t got enough really.”
In the interim, Galway managed to stay in Division One with comfort and reached a first League final since 2006. They have regained the Connacht title, beat Kerry in the Championship for the first time since 1965 and recorded their first SFC win at Croke Park in 17 years in doing so.
Today, they bridge the gap to their last All-ireland semifinal appearance in 2001 when they play champions Dublin.
So, they’ve clearly found that “edge” Cummins referred to nine months ago.
Last month Finian Hanley, who retired from Galway duty last winter, observed to Mirror Sport that he had noticed a different cut to them.
“I see guys managing the game better, a small bit of the dark arts as well and that’s all positive in the modern game,” he said.
“I know it’s not the best spectacle at the minute but you have to move with the times and I think a few of our lads this year have moved with the times.” Michael Meehan (left) drew a line under his Galway career at the same time as Hanley in December and agrees the team has become more streetwise since.
“If you’re trying to break into the upper echelons you’ve got to have your
good players, you’ve got to have a good squad, the set up has to be right and then just that little bit more toughness and cuteness on the pitch,” says Meehan.
“You’re going nowhere if you don’t have that. So have Galway improved their toughness or cuteness on the pitch? They definitely have, absolutely.
“It’s not too long ago Joe Brolly was having a go at Galway in half-time in some game, I can’t remember which, but he was definitely questioning Galway and whether they were taking their football seriously or not. And maybe he was probably right to do so at the time.
“People now are questionjoe ing Galway for maybe taking football too seriously and questioning their approach to games but that certainly doesn’t bother Kevin Walsh and I don’t think it bothers the lads too much either.
“There’s a certain link between Brolly’s comments and what Danny alluded to, I think it’s fair enough to say that.
“That’s kind of what I would see in that regard with that remark.”
When Kildare lost to Galway last month, their manager Cian O’neill cried foul about Daniel Flynn “literally being manhandled” before he was sent off for lashing out at Sean Andy O Ceallaigh. But in terms of how Galway’s newfound edge manifests itself, Meehan rails against the notion that Flynn’s red card is an example.
“What Daniel Flynn did, he reacted in a way he shouldn’t have. There’s numerous games where there’s always going to be a pull and a drag and a nip and a tuck and a push.
“It happens thousands of times in a Championship match so that’s the reality of it and players will bite, players will take the bait and players won’t take the bait.
“The dark arts are not getting lads sent off, they’re about getting a stronghold in a game, feeding into your own self-confidence as a player to go out and perform,” Meehan adds.
Before last Saturday’s capitulation against Monaghan, Galway had done that very well all year.
They’ll have to do it like never before this evening in Croke Park.