From the frying pan into the fire would appear to be the Galway footballers’ lot this Sunday.
After suffering an eight-point defeat to a lacklustre Kerry outfit last weekend in Killarney, Tomás Ó Flátharta’s team now face the reigning All-Ireland champions Cork in Pearse Stadium on Sunday at 2.30pm.
It does not get any tougher. Cork are a very good side coming into a run of good form.
It has the makings of a tough 70 minutes of action for the home side and not even the most optimistic Galway footballer supporter would expect anything from next Sunday’s round five tie. The reality is that the team’s demeanour over the past few games has been exactly that of a team with no points in the league and no notion where the first one or two are coming from.
That sense of resignation might be understandable, if not acceptable in the closing stages of a game that is not going their way,but if they are to have any chance whatsoever next Sunday, they will have to arrive at the pitch with some fire in their bellies. If they do not have that attitude and bullishness for the fray, then they will have zero chance of getting anything from the tie.
Regrettably the collective confidence of Galway players is at an exceedingly low ebb and they face a Cork team that was rampant when hammering Down 3-17 to 0-15 in round four. Losing games consistently and heavily eats into a team’s self-belief and undermines what they are trying to achieve. And after four consecutive defeats on the trot, the Galway players do not know which way to turn.
Cork will not have any sympathy as there is massive competition for places in their starting 15. Conor Counihan has a phenomenal panel at his disposal and when you consider they could afford to bring on current All-Star midfielder Aidan Walsh with 20 minutes to go last Saturday, it highlights the difficulty facing the home side this weekend.
Daniel Goulding, Paddy Kelly, Colm O’Neill, Fintan Goold and Pearse O’Neill are all serious forwards and the Galway defenders will have to take a few extra bowls of Weetabix on Saturday and Sunday morning if they are to keep them at bay.
Last weekend, speaking to the media after the team’s defeat to the Kingdom, Tomás Ó Flátharta was not hiding from the huge difficulties facing him and his management team in attempting to turn things around.
"They’ve gone through a rough ride in the last couple of years and it’s going to take a bit of time to get things working again. We’re down a lot of quality players, but we know we have a lot of work to do. The players are working hard together, but it’s not going to happen in a day or two."
