Slow-starting Galway men forge well clear by the end
Published:
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Author: Alan Dooley
~ 3 minutes read
From this week's Galway City Tribune
GALWAY 1-12
ARMAGH 0-9
By Alan Dooley at Pearse Stadium
ON an evening of new beginnings in Pearse Stadium last Saturday, the Galway senior footballer’s 2025 season got off to a positive start of sorts as they made better use of the blustery conditions and took advantage of the newly installed scoring rules to record a six-point win over All-Ireland champions Armagh.
The pre-game fireworks and light shows that formed part of the official turning-on ceremony for the Salthill venue’s floodlights certainly grabbed the attention of the relatively large crowd who braved a wintry evening by the sea, but for large spells this was a drab encounter.
The FRC’s new rules were brought in to much fanfare to try and transform football as a spectacle, yet both sides at times got caught in old habits that slowed the game to walking pace.
Granted, the poor condition of the playing surface played a large part in the game that unfolded, with players from both sides taking a massive risk whenever they tried to hop the ball off the turf, with very little bounce available.
Galway’s ability to kick accurately at the posts from distance ultimately proved decisive, with three two-point efforts from outside the arc in a four-minute spell catapulting Padraic Joyce’s side seven points clear in the third quarter.
Ahead by just one having conceded two scores in a row, Galway burst into life when the impressive Cillian O’Curraoin split the posts from two-point range, before Armagh broke the new 3v3 rule and substitute Shane Walsh chose to kick the free from 40 metres out to make it 1-9 to 0-7. Paul Conroy then tacked on one of his trademark scores with wind assistance and the game was suddenly beyond Kieran McGeeney’s side’s reach.
Playing into the icy wind, which resurfaced after a calm spell at just the right moment for Galway, Armagh were never going to be able to engineer a comeback and were further hampered when Niall Grimley was dismissed for hitting Daniel O’Flaherty off the ball.
One quirk of the new rules surfaced, though, as Armagh were still able to attack with an extra outfield player, if the goalkeeper got involved, as only two men now had to stay within their own half against Galway’s three attackers.
Pictured: Galway’s Cillian McDaid on the attack against Armagh’s Tomas McCormack during Saturday’s National League clash at Pearse Stadium. Photos: Joe O’Shaughnessy.
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