O’Mahony: We must improve to survive in dog-eat-dog system

FORGET about Galway’s performance or the winning margin.

The champions justified their favourites tag in the first Connacht SFC match to be played in Pearse Stadium in 13 years and, measured against results over the last two Sundays, that’s a noteworthy achievement. Nevertheless, manager John O’Mahony had a clear message for the public afterwards.

He acknowledged his team needs to improve on this display to be sure of coming away from Carrick-on-

Shannon in a fortnight with another victory. Also, he argued the competitive nature of the provincial championship guarantees there will always be difficult challenges to overcome.

“All I’d say to people is that there is a lot of idle talk all around the place, about who is going to progress in the championship and all that. But when you go into the provincial system it’s a dog-eat-dog situation,” he said.

“And Roscommon were always going to put it up to us today. We were terrible the last day we played them in Ballinasloe in the league and while we are delighted to get through on that performance, there’s no doubt that we’ll have to improve.”

O’Mahony agreed the free-taking of Padraic Joyce and Michael Meehan had been crucial in deciding the

outcome: “Obviously, it made a huge difference when a goal didn’t come. The danger of a game like this is that it gets sloppy and loses its shape. We kept our shape as much as possible.

We had a few goal chances in the first half but we didn’t put them away.

“The wind does not win or lose matches. Roscommon won the toss and played against it. They did quite well in the first half as well.”

Overall, he felt his team produced a workmanlike performance in the second half, saying Sean Óg de Paor’s point was an important score because of the way it settled the team after two early Roscommon points.

Michael Meehan was delighted with his debut performance: “It was a tough game and the conditions made it even tougher but it was a good day overall for Galway. With the wind it worked to our advantage.

“On another day it could have gone against us. We tipped away in the first half and got a few good scores and we just had to work hard in the second half to get through.”

By and large, Roscommon manager Tom Carr was pleased with his team’s form except that they didn’t always make the most of good possession. He also admitted Galway benefited from having “the little bit of cuteness”.

He added: “I thought we did very well in the first half in sticking as close as we were. In the second half, we got the two points that we required at the start, before we seemed to get a little bit flat-footed for a while. But we were trying and we were committed throughout and I have no complaints whatsoever.”

Equally, he had no regrets about the decision to play against the wind, explaining he felt it would take time for the game to settle down. “It’s a gambit you always take. The danger is if you play with the wind and you don’t get the lead that you need, then you are under pressure. We just went with what we normally do.”

Longer term, he is optimistic about his team’s chances in the qualifiers. “Certainly, from the enthusiasm and the commitment we showed, it won’t be hard to pick it up. We will give a fair go. We’re heartened by today that we exorcised the league fall-out and the few bad results we had.”

Team captain and goalkeeper Shane Curran agreed. “A lot of lads can take heart from the display. Morgan Beirne was outstanding and Paul Noone was man-of-the-match in my book,” he said. “Defensively we did reasonably well but up forward we need to be a bit cuter.

“Galway, to be fair, had the experience and they used ball well. It’s something we need, but we’re going in the right direction.”