Early season form suggests Tribesmen are on course for a return to their glory years
MEATH’S trip to Pearse Stadium today will inevitably evoke memories of the 2001 All-Ireland football final. That game, remembered for Pádraic Joyce’s classy performance at fullforward, seems an awful lot longer than 15 years ago, though.
It remains Galway footballers’ last victory in Croke Park, a startling statistic, and while Meath reached two All-Ireland semifinals in 2007 and 2009 and won a Leinster title in 2010, they too have struggled to get back among the game’s elite.
Whisper it lightly, but there are signs that the Tribesmen are finally ready to step out of the shadow of that side that won two All-Irelands. Last week’s win in Celtic Park was impressive; not simply for the result, but the manner in which it was achieved.
Johnny Heaney’s performance at wing-back drew comparisons with the great Seán Óg de Poar in his pomp. The 20-year-old Heaney scored four points from play and was instrumental in helping to create Adrian Varley’s goal as well as a number of other scoring chances. It bodes well for the future.
Heaney played down his contribution when talking to Galway Bay FM after last week’s match. ‘They just kept going over, every shot that I put in. They were just flowing over but the lads were the ones that were putting in the passes for me.’
Watching a player make raids forward from the half-back line does bring to mind the teams on which manager Kevin Walsh starred.
Killanin clubman Heaney certainly has an air of De Paor about him and a scoring threat from the half-back line is a vital component for any team who want to break into the top tier now.
Heaney played in the FBD League in 2015, but spent last year’s National League campaign and Championship on the bench. It was a steep learning curve for a young player, but it is clear that he has learnt from it. ‘Two away wins are very important for the lads because away wins lift the confidence of the camp,’ Heaney added.
In Division 2, where the margins are so tight, away wins may make the difference in the end but, for Galway, the big thing is to eradicate the inconsistency which has dogged them for years. Too often in the recent past, a good performance has been followed by a bad one.
‘Hopefully, we will learn a bit from the Derry game. The lads played some very good football all over the pitch and took some impressive scores. And we want to replicate that on Sunday. What we need now is to get consistency in all our performances,’ Walsh insisted during the week.
Finian Hanley, Gary Sice, Cathal Sweeney and Paul Mannion all came back from injury last week and, for the first time in a long while, Galway look to have options throughout their squad. Apart from Heaney’s emergence, the other notable addition has been Eamonn Brannigan, who chipped in with a few fine scores last weekend.
‘As well as the result. It was positive that those players all got some game-time,’ Walsh agreed. ‘We will need a full panel of lads over the next few weeks and months and it is good to see more lads coming back to full fitness.’
Indeed, the only sour aspect of the past week has been goalkeeper Thomas Dolan’s knee injury that will keep him out of action in the coming weeks. However, they have experienced campaigners such as Gareth Bradshaw and Danny Cummins still to come back, while their midfield coped admirably without Fiontán Ó Curraoin, who was a late withdrawal with a hamstring injury last weekend.
The 2001 All-Ireland final win still hangs over Galway football, but as two of Gaelic football’s traditional powerhouses clash in Salthill, they finally look in better shape to end their winless streak at headquarters than they have done for some time.
And while Walsh is wary of a Meath backlash, following their capitulation to Cavan last weekend, he knows that a win here is the sort of statement his players must send out if they wish to count themselves among football’s higher order once more.