GAELIC GAMES:Tomás Ó Flatharta once helped to break Galway hearts but now he is charged with reigniting their All-Ireland ambitions, writes KEITH DUGGAN

THOSE HEADING into Pearse Stadium on that sunny Saturday evening taught the worst of their problems were behind them in the traffic. This was July 2006; Galway city was crowded and the visit of Westmeath to play Galway in a make-or-bust qualifying match drew a huge crowd.

The Westerners were heavy favourites to advance and the prize on offer was a marquee quarter-final date against Dublin.

Instead, in front of an increasingly agitated home following, Tomás Ó Flatharta’s team put up the fight of their lives and led by a single point in the last few seconds. In retrospect, that match seems like a crossing point for Galway football.

The portents were bad from early on when Ja Fallon, recalled to the team shortly before throw-in, broke his collarbone in a collision with Westmeath’s livewire goalkeeper Gary Connaughton. And although Galway fans did not know it, they were also watching Michael Donnellan in a maroon shirt for the very last time: the abiding mystery of that evening centres on why the Dunmore man was not elected to strike the 73rd-minute free – it was 50 metres and more out from goal – that could have earned the home team extra time.

The free fell short and although Gary Sice got his hands to it and tried to fist a point under tremendous pressure, it was Westmeath howls of joy that punctuated the evening. Galway’s football summer was done and deemed an unholy disappointment.

“There is a right bit of mettle about this team,” Ó Flatharta said of his Westmeath players.

Five seasons later and Ó Flatharta finds himself managing the ever-volatile ambitions of Galway football. With two league defeats and the much-publicised departures of veteran All-Ireland winner Kieran Fitzgerald and their experienced midfielder Niall Coleman, the visit of Mayo to Tuam stadium – the classic spring derby in the West – could not have come at a more crucial time.

Ó Flatharta is keeping his counsel, politely declining an interview for this newspaper and the Galway county board also has no comment to make about the perception that the football team’s season is in danger of turning pear-shaped before it even began.

The comments by former Galway captain Ray Silke, in the wake of the departure of the two current players, caused controversy. But they did raise the very reasonable question of how Galway has gone from winning two All-Irelands in four seasons (and losing the 2000 final after a memorable draw and replay) to struggling for competitiveness in division one.

Since winning their last All-Ireland in 2001, Galway have won two under-21 titles (2002 and 2005) as well as the 2007 All-Ireland minor title while last year’s minor side, managed by Gerry Fahy, narrowly lost out to Cork in an All-Ireland semi-final. As a form guide, it is better than most counties can boast.

Peter Ford was in his first season as manager for the 2005 All-Ireland win and watched as Michael Meehan and Seán Armstrong caused havoc in contributing to a freakish final result against Down: 6-5 to 4-6.

“They are classy forwards and I am certain that we will see those two lads continue to rack up big tallies in senior competition,” praised Paddy O’Rourke, the Down manager. “We had planned to keep the ball away from them but the big fella in the middle of the field spoiled that plan.”

O’Rourke was talking about Barry Cullinane, one of an impressive haul of players who graduated from that side to the senior squad in the coming seasons. Armstrong and Meehan’s prodigious form was well flagged but since then, Finian Hanley has established himself as a traditional full back of note and injury has been the main obstacle in the career of Damien Dunleavy. Gary Sice, Darren Mullahy, Niall Coyne, Alan Burke and Fiachra Breathnach have all featured in squads chosen by Ford and the subsequent managers, Liam Sammon and Joe Kernan.

From the 2002 crop Fitzgerald, Matthew Clancy, Nicky Joyce, Damien Burke, Joe Bergin and Diarmuid Blake went on to become central players in Galway senior teams down the years. Clive Monaghan, Kieran Comer, Kevin Brady and Richie Murray also broke into the first team on various occasions.

It was an enviable cast of players to produce and the main trick facing those who succeeded John O’Mahony was blending these younger players with the remaining seniors from Galway’s All-Ireland winning teams. That transition has occurred but the success has not followed.

It has too quickly been forgotten that the last years of O’Mahony’s reign were tumultuous, with veteran Kevin Walsh advising that people should “cop themselves on” over remarks made about Galway footballers after Galway’s quarter-final replay defeat to Donegal in Castlebar.

That loss marked the beginning of a trend for quarter-final exits for the county and their last appearance at that stage was in the glorious shoot-out against Kerry in 2008. And each of these seasons have given tantalising flashes of the kind of potential that Galway football people have come to expect from the team.

In 2009, Galway came storming into a see-saw Connacht final against Mayo in Pearse Stadium only to be beaten by an injury-time point by Peader Gardiner. A week later, they found themselves in Markievicz Park against a Donegal team on a roll and were dumped out of the championship by a single point.

That defeat brought about what many people believe was a premature end to Liam Sammon’s period in charge of Galway. But the urgent sense that Galway football needed to make a decisive step forward in terms of championship results led to the approach to Joe Kernan, whose formidable record with Crossmaglen and Armagh, and Galway roots, made him an intriguing choice.

When the Crossmaglen man attended the 2010 county final in Tuam, he was as surprised as anyone to receive an ovation from the crowd. It was a peculiar moment that illustrated just how desperately the Galway football public wanted something to celebrate and to feel good about.

“I just hope they are clapping at the end of the year,” Kernan said in this newspaper last March. Kernan’s hope was to instil his particular brand of organisation and discipline while maintaining Galway’s trademark attacking game. It showed flashes of working but ultimately the season petered out in dispiriting fashion: a Connacht championship loss against Kevin Walsh’s Sligo team in Markievicz Park and then a tame exit against Wexford on a wet Saturday afternoon in Pearse Stadium.

On that day, more than ever, Galway football seemed to have become an irrelevancy. And it is from that position that Tomás Ó Flatharta sets out.

The difficulty for any prospective Galway manager is that the legacy of the past 10 years means the Galway public want to believe that the team is capable of challenging for a senior All-Ireland title. But the reality is more complex.

Through good seasons and bad, the Galway forward line has remained heavily reliant on Padraic Joyce. Also, the irony of Kevin Walsh managing the Sligo team that beat Galway last summer escaped no-one. Galway have never been able to fill the void that Walsh left at midfield. There have been other irreplaceable departures: the inestimable brilliance of Michael Donnellan was a once-in-a-generation deal, so too the athleticism and skill of Fallon. But in the longer term, the closure of St Jarlath’s College as a boarding school could prove the most damaging blow of all to Galway aspirations of rediscovering its All-Ireland pedigree.

The death of Canon Oliver Hughes last September was particularly sad news for the many footballers he coached on the Hogan Cup-winning teams of 1978, ’82, ’84 and 2002. A half dozen players from the ’94 Jarlath’s team would win an All-Ireland four years later. From its inaugural Hogan Cup win in 1947, the school has played an integral role in Galway football and it remains to be seen if it can wield the same influence as a ‘day school’. Paul Conroy is the only player from the 2007 minor All-Ireland winning team to enjoy regular minutes on the senior team. Damien Reddington, who scored 1-2 in that All-Ireland win over Derry, left to study in England while others such as Anthony Griffin and Michael Martyn have had limited opportunity to make their mark.

A kind of anxiety has beset Galway football since its best years and the quick appointment and replacement of managers – with Ford’s perceived defensiveness replaced with Sammon’s belief in the attacking game in turn replaced with Kernan’s reputation for producing winning teams – suggests an inherent anxiety at work.

Still, for all the gloom of the past few summers, there are still several bright points for Galway football. The team is presently operating without Nicky and Padraic Joyce and Meehan, all of whom are likely to be starting in the championship.

And regardless of what team Ó Flatharta chooses, it is likely to include more All-Ireland medal holders at grades from senior to minor than most counties can boast. What Galway football may require for the time being is a realistic outlook and some patience. The arrival of Mayo tomorrow afternoon will guarantee that neither is present.

The border clash has always been a game-within-a-game and with both teams hurting for a win, a fierce clash is on the cards. After a bumpy fortnight in Galway, a win against Mayo would be enough for now.

Five years have passed since Tomás Ó Flatharta brought a team to Galway and shattered all kinds of illusions – now he finds himself in charge of the glue.

The Ones That Got Away . . . Galway's Near Misses Since 2001

A late point from Kevin Walsh brought the teams to Castlebar for a replay and it took a goal-line stop from Shane Carr in the closing minutes to deny Galway by a single point. It marked the beginning of the end of the John O’Mahony era – a year later, he stepped down following a qualifier loss against Tyrone.

It is often forgotten how well Peter Ford’s reign as Galway boss started – a Connacht senior title and under-21 All-Ireland in the same season. That year’s quarter-final, however, showed Galway at their best and worst – a scintillating first half included two goals from Michael Meehan but they faded and lost, 2-14 to 2-11.

Ford kick-started the football revival in Sligo and it came back to haunt him in Hyde Park. Galway had disposed of Mayo and Leitrim, but Sligo, infused with belief after a tearaway goal by Eamon O’Hara, clawed their way to a 1-10 to 0-12 win. Two weeks later, Meath sent them packing in the All-Ireland qualifiers.

The arrival of Liam Sammon heralded a return to an expansive, confident summer and this was one of the matches of the championship. Galway lost, 1-16 to 1-21, but the signs were encouraging. However the manager stepped down after a disappointing campaign the following summer.

Galway trained hard under Joe Kernan, but it made little impact. They almost met with disaster at home to Sligo. The replay was a classic; it confirmed Sligo meant business and that Galway were now vulnerable in tight games. It finished 1-14 to 0-16 and a week later, Galway lost to Wexford by the usual point – 0-13 to 1-11.