Inside Track with John McIntyre

WHEN a team wins its opening round National League game, it creates a positive vibe around the camp. Neither the Galway hurlers nor footballers managed that at the weekend, but both produced performances which bode well for at least the rest of their respective campaigns.

At one juncture early in the second half, the Galway footballers were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat. Eleven points behind and with the Mayo supporters giving fill vent to their feelings in the bumper crowd of close to 12,000, team boss Padraic Joyce must have feared an embarrassing thumping.

But even when Galway weren’t moving that well in key matches last year, they never gave up and that characteristic was again evident at Pearse Stadium on Sunday. Their fightback gathered such momentum that Mayo were relieved to get out of Salthill with a three-point victory.

Missing a host of frontliners, including the seemingly habitually injured Damien Comer, the Galway management will also be heartened by the displays of newcomers Ciarán Mulhern and the unrelated McDonaghs, Oisín and Fionn, who scored 1-4 and was a big aerial threat.

Overall, it was something of a mad-cap affair and if Galway had taken their multitude of goal chances – Rob Finnerty missed a sitter in the opening half after a precise delivery from Mulhern – they would have repeated their previous weekend’s win over Mayo in the FBD League decider.

Mayo’s recalled goalkeeper Robbie Hennelly ended up been chosen as the Man of the Match. Apart from ending up as his team’s top scorer with three two-point frees, he also made several fine saves even if some of the Galway players who had those chances made his job a little easier by not going the ground route.

It was one of those shots that first beat Hennelly. Substitute Shane McGrath’s soccer-style effort helped to spark the Galway revival and for most of the closing ten minutes there was no shortage of bedlam or drama around the Mayo posts. The hosts, however, only managed to find the net once more when Fionn McDonagh made no mistake after fielding a Matthias Barrett delivery.

On the balance of play, Mayo probably deserved to collect the spoils and new manager Andy Moran will be heartened by the number of orange flags raised – an area which badly led them down under the conservative approach of previous manager Kevin McStay – but their lack of defensive security remains a concern.

Pictured: Galway’s Seán Fitzgerald eyes up his options against Mayo’s Bob Tuohy during Sunday’s National Football League tie at Pearse Stadium. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.