Armagh 0-16

Galway 1-12

SUDDENLY, Galway footballers are in trouble. A seamless championship season up to now has hit serious turbulence and it remains to be seen how the Tribesmen react to their unexpected predicament.

In suffering a first ever championship loss to Armagh in this final Group 2 round-robin clash in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday, Galway are facing a massive test of character in trying to get their Sam Maguire hopes back on track.

Instead of sealing the anticipated direct passage to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, they have now only seven days to mentally and physically recover from Sunday’s setback which has automatically led to a re-evaluation of Galway’s worth.

Everything had been going along perfectly in terms of results, but injuries were increasingly stalking the Galway camp with the withdrawals of both Dylan McHugh and Damien Comer from the starting line-up against Armagh a significant blow.

Throw in the fact that Rob Finnerty’s championship contribution continues to be compromised by injury, Galway haven’t been able to field from a full deck in the All-Ireland series – and it left them vulnerable before a moderate crowd of 6,803 in Páirc Seán MacDiarmada.

Against an Armagh team scrapping for the lives, Galway were never able to shake off Kieran McGeeney’s determined forces, with a combination of spurned goal chances – notably Shane Walsh’s first half penalty – and too many turnovers contributing to their downfall.

A poor start to the second half, in which Armagh rattled over three unanswered points, also didn’t help Galway’s cause and the team management can’t be happy either that some key players lost their way as a lively and fiercely competitive encounter evolved.

Perhaps Galway being already assured of emerging from their group disarmed them a little in terms of focus and ambition, but the bottom line is that life is now a lot more complicated for them with the prospect of three intense matches in the space of a fortnight.

That is hardly an appealing scenario given their list of walking wounded, but Galway must rise to the challenge or a campaign which had been gathering serious momentum could be over ahead of the All-Ireland semi-finals.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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