The gloom only deepens for ghastly Galway
Yesterday was not such an experience.
The first half was a rancid error-ridden game that had more mistakes and unforced errors than you would expect to see at a bad club game. It brought a new meaning to “puke football”.
Both sides looked totally inept and while the conditions were poor — slippery pitch and wind — that could not excuse the lack of control of the ball.
Mayo kicked nine or 10 wides, some from very poorly taken frees — I will come back to that — and despite bossing the middle quarter they looked rudderless and leaderless up front.
The O’Shea brothers bossed midfield, Donal Vaughan controlled centre-back and with Alan Dillon winning a world of breaks — how Greg Higgins was left marking him for the full 70 minutes is beyond comprehension — they had ample opportunities to put some daylight between the sides.
Alan Freeman, who went on to play very well in the second half, was well marshalled by Colin Forde at full-back and without Freeman winning ball, the Mayo attack was very disjointed.
At the other end, Galway were almost completely dependent on frees from Cormac Bane to stay in touch. The Caherlistrane player hit 0-4 (4fs) in that first half and looked Galway’s most potent attacker.
A lucky break allowed Paul Conroy to shoot a goal that pushed Galway into a 1-5 to 0-4 half-time lead that they did not deserve.
However, leading by four points no-one could have foreseen their abject collapse in the second half.
James Horan’s men took over completely around the middle and their half-forwards of Kevin McLoughlin, Dillon, Andy Moran and Cillian O’Connor burned a hole through the Galway half-back line. Mayo hit five points on the bounce and Galway’s lack of confidence from last year’s defeats to Sligo and Wexford and relegation from Division One this year came back to haunt them. They were losing all the key battles and debutant Mark Hehir found the going particularly difficult against the impressive Donal Vaughan.
Tomás Ó Flatharta swung the axe and Hehir went off, followed by the two men who had scored 1-4 for Galway in the first half — Bane and Conroy.
Explain this to me please: your side is being riddled at midfield and the half-back line — so you take off your corner-forward and full-forward?
Galway’s one glimmer of getting anything from the game was scorned by Eoin Concannon who blazed over with the goal at his mercy. Indeed, he was the only player in maroon to score in the 38 minutes of game time in the second half. When a team is outscored by 1-8 to 0-1 in the second half, it is fairly obvious which team deserved to go through to meet Roscommon.
Horan will be pleased to have left their troubles against London in the mists of time and they can take many positives from yesterday.
Alan Freeman scored 1-2 in the second half and took his goal coolly. Andy Moran and Dillon were in good form. Ronan McGarrity came on when Seamus O’Shea tired and he hit a superb point. Competition is great sauce and the Mayo training sessions will be of a good standard over the coming weeks.
On the negative side, their free-taking was shocking and they had to get goalkeeper Robert Hennelly to come up and score two in the first half. Both Dillon and Aidan O’Shea fluffed some easy efforts and unless they find a consistent and reliable free taker, they won’t be playing football in August.
Galway were shocking. Really shocking and they looked a beaten team long before the finish. The Finian Hanley experiment did not work at all and bringing on Michael Meehan, who had not played competitive football for well over a year, was desperation stuff.
Madness to be honest.
These are gloomy sporting days in the city. The hurlers were stuffed by Dublin, Galway United are in freefall, and the footballers, who face Meath in two weeks, look high risk to be out of the championship after another 70 minutes of football.
Finally, €30 represented poor value for yesterday’s fare for the fans who turned up. The GAA need to try and add a bit of razzamatazz to their games. Imagination and proactive measures are needed to turn things around.
