GALWAY 3-21            

LEITRIM 1-13

By Kevin Egan in Bekan

IN his remarks after this result on Friday night, Andy Moran said that “I was slagging (Pádraic) Joyce before the game and the team he picked, he went fairly heavy loaded”, and he wasn’t wrong, in that there were plenty of recognisable names togged out for the Tribesmen in this season opener at the Connacht GAA Airdome.

The problem for Leitrim, and the positive for Galway, is that there was plenty of heavy artillery on the pitch, but there is also plenty in reserve too. After all, out of the 19 players that featured in the All-Ireland final against Kerry last July, just five of them started this game, with Paul Conroy joining in the action later on.

But that’s where Galway football is at right now, that they can put out a team like this, and put in a performance like this, on a weekend when their three club champions were engaged in All-Ireland semi-finals, as was Shane Walsh with Kilmacud Crokes.

Now if the perspective was changed, and the question became – how many of this team will be championship regulars in 2023? – then things might look a little different. Even allowing for the calibre of opposition, there were plenty of positives to take from the game. While it was plain sailing for a lot of Galway men, Seán Fitzgerald had a real and honest test up against Keith Beirne, and the Barna man will be better for getting this game on board.

Daniel O’Flaherty carried his excellent club form onto the county stage at wing back, Bernard Power will certainly be difficult to dislodge from his role as goalkeeper, while up front, there was no getting away from the intelligence and craft that Ian Burke brings to the forward line. The returning Corofin attacker is probably in direct competition with Rob Finnerty for a championship start as things stand, but the two men linked up brilliantly here, with Burke setting things up and Finnerty adding the finishing touches.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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