July Road: Pat Comer on the camera once again for Galway

The well-documented parallels with 1998 have been strengthened further for Galway footballers as it emerged this week that goalkeeping coach Pat Comer has been filming around the team again this year.

Back in ‘98, cinematographer Comer was sub goalkeeper and his fly-on-the-wall documentary, A Year Till Sunday, captured the Tribesmen’s march to a first Sam Maguire in 30 years.

The film, described on these pages at the time as “an epic of cinema verité”, has stood the test of time and remains a classic of an admittedly limited genre.

In ‘98, Padraic Joyce and Co had also beaten Roscommon in the Connacht final and Derry in the All-Ireland semi-final and went into the decider as big underdogs against a team who had just knocked out the holders.

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“It’s something I never thought would happen a few years ago. Getting the hammerings of your life by crap teams in Tuam …” notes Shay Walsh at the end of A Year Till Sunday. Could history repeat itself?

Post-match meal

Kerry’s Louise Galvin was interviewed outside the dressing rooms in Croke Park by Aisling O’Reilly of Off The Ball after their All-Ireland semi-final win. Nothing unusual about that apart from the fact that Galvin was cradling in her arms her 14-week-old son.

The Kerry star returned to training nine weeks after giving birth in late March.

“It wasn’t part of the plan initially because he was a bit late,” she said. “I’m not sure if he is the first baby to be breastfed in the Croke Park dressing room but hopefully he won’t be the last.

“He’s a great little baby and I get great support from my family, my husband and the management and the girls, they helped me out, when I was showering there, they were holding him.”

Numbers show Cody’s consistency

Another glut of Cody stats for the Monday that’s in it? Go on then.

Sunday marked the top Cat’s 166th championship match as Kilkenny manager and his 19th All-Ireland SHC final (including replays), which means that 16.4 per cent of all championship matches he has overseen have been All-Ireland finals.

The 68-year-old has managed Kilkenny in two more senior All-Ireland finals than Wexford (sorry, Yellowbellies) have qualified for in their history. As a player and manager, he has 22 Leinster SHC titles to his credit, again narrowly ahead of Wexford (21) and just behind Dublin (24).

Cody’s record of 11 Liam MacCarthys as manager is miles out in front of the chasing pack, which is now headed by John Kiely on four.

Number: 75

The first half on Sunday was the second-highest scoring half ever in the SHC after the 2021 final, in which Limerick were ahead by 3-18 to 1-11 at the midway point against Cork. The final scoreline, with an aggregate 66 points, tied the record from last year for the highest scoring final of all time.

It is likely, given that the final has traditionally been in September, that it was the warmest day ever for the decider.

Quote

“What a place, I love this place so much.” – Gearóid Hegarty buzzing in Croker after the match.

Number: 39.3 per cent

Percentage of Fermanagh’s total scores racked up by Seán Quigley (5-53) in 2022, as per @TheNumbersGael. No other county was as reliant on one scorer.