Galway’s young guns on the right track

Galway 0-16 Sligo 0-11

Is anybody listening to Pat Flanagan? He is beginning to sound like a broken record, or else something definitely needs fixing.

Because it may feel like high summer, but the days are already getting shorter, and Flanagan fears teams like Sligo are being hung out to dry before the season even begins. Last summer, as Westmeath manager, he said the same thing (after being hammered by Dublin), and having waited 11 weeks for his first championship game as Sligo manager, his team are now one mere defeat away from oblivion.

Indeed Sligo played like a team desperately short of match practice – especially when it came to kicking the ball between the posts. They hardly caught anything around midfield either, and despite the rallying cries of the home crowd, they were lucky Galway didn’t beat them by more than five points.

Black cards

“The sooner we look seriously at how the championship is run the better,” said Flanagan at Markievicz Park, surrounded by his backroom team.

“I said this last year, and I was castigated for it. But we look at black cards, and silly things like that, that are destroying our game. The bottom line is that we need to seriously look at how the championship is run.”

The Football Review Committee’s suggestion of eight teams divided into four groups – in some cases crossing provinces – would certainly appeal to Flanagan, as long as something changes.

“The only way forward for the likes of the weaker teams is to get as many championship matches as possible during the summer time. League is one thing, but championship is completely different.

“You could still have the provincials, maybe four provinces of eight, and break them up into two groups of four. You’d have three matches each. The top four teams would go into the semi-final of your provincial championship. You could also have the bottom four teams going into a secondary competition.

Another level

“It’s been 11 weeks since we last had a competitive match. But there is plenty of effort and determination, and there are plenty of players in Sligo willing to work to get to another level.”

Galway look to have turned their fortunes around as they prepare for the first Connacht final in five years – against old rivals Mayo in Castlebar on July 13th. There was plenty of evidence here to suggest Galway will be a lot closer than the 17-point hammering at Pearse Park last summer.

“Hopefully the pressure will be off a little bit, and we’ll be able to put in a better account of ourselves that we did this time last year against Mayo,” said manager Alan Mulholland

“ Mayo are a different level . . . . So we know we’re going to have to play a lot better football to challenge them in a Connacht final.”

Galway displayed enough skill and verve here to keep the interest alive until the end. Any county that has won two of the last four All-Ireland under-21 football titles shouldn’t be short of emerging talent, and Galway finally saw some of that shine here. Central to booking their place in the Connacht final were players like Fiontán Ó Curraoin, Damien Comer, and especially centre forward Shane Walsh – all part of Galway’s All-Ireland under-21 winning team of last year.

Walsh was orchestrating the attack from centre forward with six points from play and placed balls, while Danny Cummins was equally lively in the corner, scoring 0-4. Michael Lundy and Eddie Hoare also underlined their potential, while Paul Conroy joined in for the last 15 minutes, and should be fit to start for the final.

Galway were particularly impressive at midfield, Ó Curraoin and Thomas Flynn winning 26 kick-outs in tota. While Sligo were just a point behind at half-time – David Kelly’s typically skilful point opening it for Sligo, with captain Adrian Marren also doing well from placed-balls – those threats slowly faded in the second half, as did Sligo’s accuracy.

They finished with 12 wides. . In the end Galway got exactly the sort of game they wanted – plenty of room for improvement, but with enough hints to suggest Mayo won't be out of their reach. GALWAY: 1 M Breathnach; 2 D O'Neill, 3 F Hanley, 4 A Tierney; 5 G Bradshaw, 6 G O'Donnell (capt), 7 P Varley; 8 F O Curraoin, 9 T Flynn; 10 M Lundy (0-1), 11 S Walsh (0-6, two frees, one 45), 24 D Comer (0-1); 13 M Martin (0-2, one free), 14 E Hoare (0-2), 15 D Cummins (0-4). Subs: 26 P Conroy for Hoare (54 mins), 25 A Varley for Martin (58 mins), 23 S Armstrong for Cummins (61 mins), 22 J O'Brien for Comer (65 mins), 20 C Mulryan for Lundy (70 mins). SLIGO: 1 A Devaney; 2 R Donovan, 3 J Martyn, 4 N Ewing; 5 C Harrison, 6 A McIntrye, 7 K Cawley; 8 J Kilcullen, 9 S McManus (0-1); 10 D Rooney, 11 M Brehony (0-2), 12 B Egan; 13 P Hughes (0-1), 14 A Marren (0-4, one sideline, two frees), 15 D Kelly (0-1). Subs: 18 B Curran for Harrison (38 mins, inj), 20 K McDonnell (0-1) for McManus (50 mins), 22 N Murphy (0-1) for Rooney, 23 S Coen for Hughes (both 55 mins), 17 G Ryan for Martyn (64 mins), 24 E McHugh for Breheny (65 mins) Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois). Attendance: 8, 250