Search Results for 'Cillian McDaid'

Not since their entry into the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 2009 have Galway looked better placed to claim the Bob O’Keeffe Cup. On paper, they now appear the strongest side in the competition and, with three consecutive wins behind them, they are well positioned to reach another provincial decider.

The eye-watering price of next year’s Ryder Cup tickets or a FIFA World Cup match this summer reflects the commercial reality of global sport. A model the GAA was never meant to follow.

With the Connacht championship now firmly on the horizon, attention inevitably turns to what Galway’s starting XV might look like. League football often raises as many questions as answers, and that certainly seems to be the case this year.

The year, 1981, remains the last time Galway lifted a Division One National Football League title, a statistic that still jars when you consider the calibre of footballers who have worn the maroon and white in the interim.

Despite managing just a single win from four National League outings, there is still a glass-half-full case to be made for the early season form of the Galway men’s flagship football and hurling teams.

Galway arrived at the Athletic Grounds carrying the kind of pressure that can crush a young team. Pointless after two rounds of the Allianz League and still smarting from defeat against Mayo a week earlier, Padraic Joyce’s side knew another defeat would leave relegation fears looming large, with a daunting trip to Tralee next on the horizon. Instead, what followed was a display of defiance, bravery and attacking zest that reignited their season and delivered a famous victory, sealed by Rob Finnerty’s free right on the hooter.

A five-point defeat to your fiercest rivals will always sting, but last Saturday night in Thurles is unlikely to leave any lasting scars.

Galway travel to Ulster to face Armagh this weekend in search of their first league win of the season.

In just the second weekend of senior club football across the county, this weekend already carries huge significance. We’ll run through each of this weekend’s fixtures ahead of a high-stakes round of action, where the Round 1 winners and losers face off against one another.