A disappointing loss to Mayo at the weekend knocked Galway out of the All-Ireland football championship at the weekend.
After reaching the final in 2022 and a league campaign that showed so much promise, it was hugely disappointing to be knocked out at the preliminary quarter-final stage by 0-12 to 1-10.
After such a positive start to the summer, two losses in the space of a week to Armagh and Mayo will be hard for the players to take, especially when they had their chances in both games, but failed to convert them.
Against Mayo, Galway had 27 shots compared to Mayo’s 20, had two goal chances kicked straight at Colm Reape, and missed four frees from inside the ’45.
Manager Padraic Joyce was honest in his assessment, saying:"We’ve got no one to blame only ourselves."
"Mayo were probably a bit better than us, but we just missed too much. Even last week in Armagh, we shouldn’t have been in the position we are in here today. But we are, and we’re out of the championship now, and that’s a bitter pill to swallow."
The Mayo players targeted Seán Kelly knowing he was going into the game with an ankle injury, and much has been made of Ryan O’Donoghue's alleged attempted stamp before the second half had thrown in. And there was more with Jordan Flynn’s alleged attempt to kick in the first half.
As always, neither side is a saint. In every game there will always be pulling and dragging off the ball, but targeting a player with a known injury is both unnecessary and unwanted in the game. It is not the first time Kelly has been targeted, and perhaps it is time the GAA look at some form of retrospective bans.
However, Galway are not blameless. They needed to add to their squad in 2023 to be able to kick on from the previous year’s final disappointment, but there were also too many enforced changes in the 11 months since the Kerry loss.
In the last two games, Galway were missing three of their six backs from the previous year due to numerous reasons, while Seán Kelly soldiered through injury for the Mayo game. This required new and inexperienced faces to come in, necessitating seasoned players to move positions. This is not to say the new players in the team were not up to standard as Johnny McGrath, John Maher, and Cian Hernon all enjoyed a solid season, but the experience of Molloy, McHugh, and Silke undoubtedly was a huge loss to Galway.
On top of that, Damien Comer’s injury prevented him from playing a full game on Sunday, while Shane Walsh’s loss of form pretty much took Galway’s two most influential forwards out of the game.
Walsh, however, must be commended for standing up and taking the frees against Mayo after his last-minute miss against Armagh. He missed a couple more on Sunday, one relatively simple one in the first half, but that is not the reason Galway lost.
There were more than enough chances right across the field throughout the game for Galway to have nailed a result. There were two minutes left in injury time, and Galway felt the need to score a goal when trailing by two. In the end, they were unlucky not to score, but they had three chances, and in those two minutes Galway could have put the ball over the bar at least twice. Instead the need for a goal became much greater.
Unfortunately Galway players and management must now lick their wounds, enjoy the break, and come back stronger next year.
