Galway may not get off the hook twice
Both sides will hope they can produce a lot better on Saturday evening in Markievicz Park.
The game ended in a welter of excitement with Galway snatching an undeserved draw in injury time, however the chaotic finish should not hide the fact that there was a fair bit of brainless football played by both sides.
Joe Kernan and Kevin Walsh will not need to spend too long on the video analysis to find areas their respective teams can improve on.
Galway were abysmal in the first half, scoring two points, and they went a 25 minutes without a score.
Once again they were cleaned out in the middle third with Tony Taylor, Stephen Gilmartin strong in the air and Mark Breheny and Alan Costello mopping up the majority of breaks.
As often happens in Salthill, the game was marred by a stiff breeze which Galway played into in the first half, but even that could not explain the host’s overuse of the handpass. It was dreadful to watch.
They spent their time handpassing across the field and inevitably they were caught in possession. One of the lowest points came when Seán Armstrong listed at number 11 took a short kick-out from Adrian Faherty before heading off on a meandering solo run from one side of the half-back line to the other exchanging handpasses before Eamonn O’Hara decided enough was enough and shouldered him in the back.
It was all Sligo in that first half and they should have been further ahead than just nine points at half time.
They shot six wides and had five poor efforts that fell short into the Galway keeper’s arms. The reality is that they should have been out of sight at that small whistle.
Their most impressive player was the wonderful David Kelly who took Alan Burke for 1-1 in that half and also hit his side’s only two points in the second.
His tally of 1-3 from play correctly saw him collect the crystal after the game. He is a super little forward.
It seemed unbelievable that Galway’s management did not make any changes at half-time despite being nine points down and playing like men who had met up in the car park before the game.
In fact it took a second yellow and a subsequent red card for Armstrong to shake them from their slumber and release Michael Meehan off the bench. His impact was immediate as it took some of the heat off Páraic Joyce. It also meant that Galway finally had two genuine targets to aim at.
Joyce was outstanding in that second half and hit five points, three from play and it was his vision and experience that set up Owen Concannon for the crucial goal that was clinically buried by the St James’ man.
Walsh felt after the game that tactically he took the right option by playing Eamonn O’Hara for the majority of the second half in front of his full-back line. However in my opinion he would have been better served giving O’Hara a freer role further up the field and allowing him play as the extra man closer to his midfield as it was Galway who won all the possession for the last 25 minutes.
Galway outscored Sligo 1-6 to 0-1 in that period and by pushing O’Hara forward rather than having him marking space in front of Harrison, Donovan and McGuire, the visitors could have broken the late dominance of Kernan’s men.
Sligo will know that they left this game behind them and it will be a big test of Walsh’s managerial ability to see if he can lift them for the replay.
The fact that the game is up in Sligo will be a big boost and they know that they can play better. They shot some crazy wides with Alan Costello especially culpable.
Kernan spoke after the game about the fact that it was Galway’s first outing in eight weeks since they defeated New York, and how yesterday’s 70 minutes will bring them on a lot. I wonder if he is correct.
Based on yesterday they have enormous work to do if they are going to leave any significant impression on the 2010 championship.
Kernan and his fitness trainer (Wasps coach) John McCloskey are travelling down from Armagh every week and weekend to try and develop this Galway squad and after eight months of work it will be interesting to see if what they can change in the next six days.
They broke out of jail yesterday, but Sligo may not be so generous on home soil.
