Galway take comfort in the rain to leave Roscommon floundering

Galway 2-11 Roscommon 0-12

The concept of a water break was rendered laughable as the kind of rain that would do justice to the Amazonian rainforest fell over Roscommon Town all afternoon. Still, as Galway huddled for the last H2O drink of the day in Hyde Park, thoughts of their late collapse in the league against Monaghan may have drifted through their minds. They led 1-10 by 0-9 here and had taken a commanding grip of what was a messy, unpredictable game played in a true July downpour. Could they see it out?

There were shades of Clones 1993 as the ball splashed in front of the town end goal and the passing showers ranged from drumbeat heavy to ridiculous. Nonetheless, Pádraic Joyce’s team grew more sure-footed over that closing period and Matthew Tierney’s 67th minute goal settled both the game and what has been a joyless 2021 experience for Roscommon, who exit after a winless league and championship. It means that Roscommon haven’t won a championship game since 2019, when they played in the Super 8s. A reassuring day for Galway football was undermined slightly by the sight of Shane Walsh leaving the game in the 70th minute.

“He has nicked his hamstring running down the line,” said Joyce afterwards.

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“He was able to walk which isn’t too bad but you don’t know with a hamstring.”

Walsh didn’t score from play here but had a settling influence as the game became fractured and more open. There were glimmers of the dash and expansive mindset with which Galway have sporadically demonstrated under Joyce. Younger names and faces stood out here. The Kelly brothers, Seán and Paul, were both hugely industrious and imaginative at both ends of the field: Sean set the younger brother up for Galway’s first goal and also fed Tierney for Galway’s second. Kieran Molloy popped up all over the field and had a huge bearing in the game while Dylan McHugh looks to be settling in for the long haul at centre back. Tierney had a composed game in open play and effortlessly dispatched three long placed dead ball scores.

“He does a lot of tracking off the ball and overall a fabulous performance and fully deserves his man of the match,” said Joyce.

“I have always said that if you are good enough you are old enough. Dylan McHugh and Seán Mulkerrin are great young lads. Paul Kelly has three goals in the last four games, they train hard and are coming with a bit of pedigree with the under-20s. They set the standards high in training.”

The first Galway goal was straight out of Moycullen. All 15 Roscommon men had made camp inside their own 50 as the visitors patiently worked the ball around the fringes. At that stage, the scoreboard was stuck on two points each and the sky was turning baleful again and the small crowd was beginning to settle in for a long slow afternoon. Then, a scything run by the livewire Seán Kelly froze the last line and he spotted Peter Cooke ghosting into space. Galway had breached: Cooke looped a hand-pass to Paul Kelly who finished sharply.

That score had the effect of waking the athletes up. Suddenly, the Roscommon approach was more direct and it paid off, with defenders Conor Husssey and Conor Daly getting on the end of recycled attacks to strike fine points from play. A late free from Tierney gave Galway the bare advantage at the break, 1-5 to 0-7, but by half time little had changed except for the injury suffered by Roscommon midfielder Eddie Nolan.

The sprinkling of Roscommon supporters might have felt the day contained one of those classic Primrose ambushes but despite another quality scoring display from Enda Smith, the Roscommon challenge stalled in the second half. They managed just three scores from the 35th to the 65th minute - and Murtagh’s free prompted a late 1-1 burst from Galway.

“That’s not for discussion this evening,” Anthony Cunningham said when asked about whether he will be back for another season.

“Look, we enjoy working with the guys; they give us everything. It is hard. There is a huge amount that goes into it. I don’t think anyone understands that it is a seven day a week job. And Pádraic Joyce and the Galway guys work really hard. You could see the fruits of that. The number of highly skilled professionals from sports science in the back room team…it is basically like a mini company you are running.”

So after last year’s grim year, Joyce and Galway have two weeks to prepare for a Connacht final. They went into last year’s decider cold. The sight of Liam Silke, Molloy and Seán Kelly bombing through from deep and the growing stature of Rob Finnerty on Galway’s inside line bodes well. Damien Comer started his first championship game since the All-Ireland final of 2018 and made his presence felt. If and when they click, they will do damage. Galway looked comfortable here: the big thunderclaps out west have yet to come.

Galway: 1 C Gleeson, 2 S Kelly (0-1), 3 S Mulkerrin, 4 L Silke, 5 K Molloy, 6 D McHugh, 7 J Heaney, 8 P Conroy, 9 M Tierney (1-3, 2 frees, 45); 10 D Comer (0-1), 11 P Cooke, 12 F O'Laoi; 14 S Walsh (0-2, 2f), 13 R Finnerty (0-2), 15 P Kelly (1-2).

Substitutes: 20 C Sweeney for 12 F O'Laoi (64 mins), 23 E Brannign for 14 S Walsh (68 mins), 17 J Duane for 15 P Kelly (68 mins). 24 P Costello for 13 R Finnerty (71 mins), 22 T Flynn for P Conroy (74 mins).

Roscommon: 1 C Lavin, 2 D Murray, 3 B Stack (0-1): 4 C Daly (0-2); 5 S Mullooly, 7 N Daly (0-2), 6 C Hussey (0-1); 8 E Smith (0-3), 9 E Nolan; 10 N Kilroy, 11 C Murtagh, 12 S Killoran, 13 D Murtagh (0-1), 14 D Smith (0-2, 1 '45), 15 C Cox.

Substitutes: 21 T O'Rourke for 9 E Nolan (18 mins inj), 22 C Cregg for 12 S Killoran (41 mins), 24 C Devaney for 22 C Cregg (48 mins inj), 23 C McKeon for 13 D Murtagh (49 mins), 26 Ultan Harney for 15 C Cox (56 mins).

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).