By Darren Kelly

AFTER the successful exploits of last year’s All-Ireland winners, Galway’s latest crop of under-17s begin what they hope will be a fruitful odyssey this Friday (Markievicz Park, 6:30pm ) when they travel to Sligo in the Connacht minor football championship.

It’s the first of four games on the provincial round-robin circuit with contests against Roscommon and Mayo over the next two Fridays, before they entertain Leitrim on May 12.

The group winners will qualify directly for the Connacht Final and the All-Ireland quarter-finals. And the teams who finish second and third collide in a winner-takes-all provincial semi-final that opens up the door to participation in the national series.

“The nature of the Connacht championship,” said Galway manager Alan Glynn this week. “(It) gives you that great opportunity for development.  And if you’re lucky enough to progress past that, then you’ve opportunity for more games.

“And the more games you play, the more you’re progressing in the competition. And exposing young lads to different grounds and different experiences and different teams from around the country can only benefit them for the long-term.

“There’s a bigger picture at play in that we want to get players through to under-20 and ultimately get them through to senior. And having a good grounding and good foundation in underage football that the transition is as seamless as possible for the guys. That’s up to us now this year.”

It was a format that worked so well for Galway in 2022 who despite three defeats, continued to learn and progress over nine battles before beating Mayo 0-15 to 0-9 last July in the national decider at Dr. Hyde Park.

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

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