Inside Track with John McIntyre
THERE’S still a long road for Galway footballers to travel in order to become serious All-Ireland contenders again. Despite facing a below-par and, at times, sloppy Kerry at Croke Park last Sunday, the Tribesmen cut a dispirited force long before the finish of a low-key quarter-final.
The Kerry camp was disappointed afterwards with their level of intensity and sharpness, but still had eight points to spare over a Galway team which only performed in spurts and failed to convert even one of their four goal-scoring opportunities. This lack of killer instinct proved costly and they can have few complaints about a seventh loss from their last eight quarter-final appearances.
It’s a desperate record and the question has to be asked: did Galway truly believe that they could beat Kerry? Having gone for broke and played with a spirit of adventure in thrashing Donegal the previous weekend, the men in maroon adopted a far more conservative approach on their return to GAA headquarters, Defending in numbers, they were clearly petrified about the threat of the Kerry full forward line.
As it transpired, they had major grounds for worry as the towering Kieran Donaghy wrecked havoc in the opening-half, but would the damage have been any worse if Galway hadn’t flooded their rearguard with heavy numbers? That strategy ensured that they surrendered the middle third for long periods where the outstanding Paul Murphy, in particular, drove forward at will.
Galway were always playing catch up after Donaghy’s early goal and though they were still in the hunt when Sean Armstrong, who has certainly justified his return to inter-county football this season, landed a neat effort from play to close the deficit to 1-12 to 0-11 after 52 minutes, they disappointingly fell away afterwards, managing only two further points before the end.
Kevin Walsh and his management sprung a major surprise by drafting David Walsh into the full back line for his championship debut. It was a ballsy call, but it didn’t work out. The Killannin player had the necessary height, but not the necessary guile or experience and was taken off early in the second half. Galway’s kick-out strategy also had them under pressure as Bernard Power’s restarts too often ended up in Kerry hands.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
