The Galway minor footballers lost the All-Ireland quarter-final to Derry on Saturday afternoon in Carrick-on-Shannon.
Losing 1-13 to 0-4, Galway were out-played, out-thought, and out-fought on the day. Struggling to come to terms with a dominant Derry side, Galway were beaten in almost every area of the field for the entire game.
Scoring just two points in each half and failing to score from play in the first half, Alan Glynn’s side can have no complaints with the result. An impressive Connacht campaign became derailed with a poor performance against Mayo in the final and Galway did not improve from that loss.
Trailing 1-5 to 0-2 at the break, Galway never looked like they would claw themselves back into the game, and the loss of Ross Coen to a red card after an early yellow followed by a black made things harder for the Tribesmen.
In 2022 Galway managed to lose three games, but still win the All-Ireland, losing to Mayo twice in Connacht and losing to Leitrim in the final game. Galway went on to beat Mayo at the third time of asking and win the All-Ireland. Unfortunately, in 2023 Galway were unable to muster up a response to their Connacht final defeat.
Alan Glynn has now completed four years as Galway minor manager, and although they won the All-Ireland series in 2022, they have regularly struggled in Connacht, having now gone since 2018 without a title.
Ulster champions Derry showed their All-Ireland credentials with a dominant and controlling performance - Eamon Young and Ger Dillon combining for 1-8 of their side’s total.
Frees from Charlie Cox and Ciarán Mulryan gave Galway some hope, but the Tribesmen were unable to kick on after the break, and only scored from the boot of Brian O’Malley and Cox in the second half, scoring a point each.
The Tribesmen had several of the 2022 team and panel playing, most notably Shay McGlinchey at midfield, but the Derry-born midfielder was unable to get the better of Cathal McKaigue on his return from an ankle problem, having missed most of the Ulster campaign.
There is plenty of talent still coming through the Galway ranks, seen clearly in the Galway senior squads with Padraic Joyce continually putting faith in youth. With many of these players likely to get a chance at U20 level over the next couple of years, they have the chance to keep improving and get a chance at senior squads in the near future.
