IN retrospect, are we inclined to give the Galway hurlers a free pass for their shambolic effort in Wexford Park nearly a fortnight ago?

Imagine if you are one of the Galway players trying to build yourself up for a game against a team which had been shocked by Antrim just a week previously.

Sure, you have to be professional, but it must have been very easy to have got sucked in by the result in Corrigan Park in terms of dropping your guard.

The Galway camp would have expected some form of a kickback from Wexford, but deep down the players in maroon would also have assumed that it was a hurdle they would clear. Furthermore, Galway hadn’t lost to Wexford in the championship in 28 years.

We can’t be sure if Galway were mentally in the zone for that fixture, human nature being what it is, but their display fell far short of expectations, beaten by eight points by a team which had only 14 players for the closing 20-plus minutes.

In some ways, it’s unfortunate that up next is that very same set of Antrim hurlers who possibly played tricks with the Galway minds ahead of the Wexford game. After-all, it’s only 10 weeks since the Tribesmen inflicted a 25-point walloping on them in a league clash at Corrigan Park.

Could that result also disarm Galway? Well, if it does, Henry Shefflin’s squad are slow learners. Based on what we have seen so far in the championship, Antrim are suffering from a split personality.

It has been diagnosed as ‘home and away’ syndrome. On their championship travels down south, Antrim suffered a combined defeat of 52 points against Kilkenny and Dublin, but in their only outing in Belfast, they retrieved a seven-point deficit against Wexford to win by two.

Pictured: Galway’s Cathal Mannion who may not be risked against Antrim at Corrigan Park on Saturday due to an ongoing hamstring issue.