Galway travel to Tyrone this weekend for round three of the league. Galway's performance two weeks ago against Roscommon was better than the game against Mayo last month. The team will need to raise its standard against the 2021 All-Ireland champions on Sunday.
Galway have a perfect record against Tyrone under the management of Padraic Joyce with league wins in 2020 and 2022 followed by the championship group stage win in 2023. All three of these wins have come about in Galway however, with both of the league fixtures being played in Tuam Stadium and last season's game being played in Pearse Stadium.
After defeating Roscommon in their opening game Tyrone fell at the hand of their former manager Mickey Harte in round two, with Harte’s new side Derry comfortably winning out 1-12 to 0-09. Tyrone’s joint management of Fergal Logan and Brian Dooher have come under scrutiny over the last two seasons with too many disappointing results since their 2021 All-Ireland win. They will see this game as a must win match in their efforts to continue their decent start to 2024.
On the other hand, Padraic Joyce and his team are also in need of a win having managed to get just one point on the board from their opening two fixtures. Galway have so far failed to impress this campaign following on from their disappointing end to 2023. Despite their numerous injuries the Tribesmen need to get points on the board soon or they will be looking at Division 2 football for 2025.
Championship football is of course where teams need to impress most, and with the Connacht championship beginning in under two months this weekend would be a chance to start building confidence again. This is true considering that Galway’s last two fixtures of the league are against last year’s All-Ireland finalists.
Galway last played Tyrone in Healy Park in 2019, and of the starting 15 that day only 4 players remain in contention to play this Sunday. They are John Daly, Shane Walsh, Johnny Heaney and Antaine O’Laoi. Walsh has been struggling with injury and is still a doubt for this weekend.
The game will be shown live on TG4 on Sunday and with the negative style of football being played by many sides in the country, it is hard to see too many make the long journey up from Galway. When Padraic Joyce first came in as Galway manager he promised open attacking football which they played, but it left Galway very open at the back. They then were on the wrong end of a couple of hidings most notably against Mayo in the delayed league of 2020 and then again against Kerry in the opening fixture of the 2021 league.
Joyce then got his side playing in a much more defensive system that worked brilliantly throughout 2022, nearly bringing Sam Maguire back across the Shannon. Yet since then something just hasn’t clicked with his side. Joyce’s talent as a player was never in question, his managerial impact for his home county has had its moments of brilliance but now is his chance to prove he is just as capable a manager as he was a player.
Throw in at Healy Park, Omagh is at 1.45pm on Sunday.
