Mulholland braced for physical final
Tomorrow he hopes to maintain that winning sequence, this time as a coach, when he takes his county to Croke Park to do battle with Derry in this year’s decider (1.30pm, RTÉ Two).
This will be the first meeting between the counties in a decider and Mulholland admits this Derry team are an exceptional outfit.
Said Mulholland: “We’re going into this final without a competitive match in four weeks while Derry were involved in two highly competitive games against Laois in their semi-final and replay.
“I got the chance to see them play in both those games and came away very impressed. They are a big physical team who play very competitively. The bookies have them favourites and rightly so. Minors can be notorious. You cannot legislate for how young players react on the day. Croke Park can be a very intimidating place, but if we play to our potential, I see the game as no more than 50/50.”
The Galway boss has pinpointed the strength of the Ulster men’s challenge.
He explained: “Derry will be the best defensive outfit we come across this year. Our semi-final with Kerry was something of a shoot out with plenty of scores, but tomorrow’s final still be entirely different. The Derry defence will be very difficult to break down. They tend to get players behind the ball and try catch you on the break. They also have a flair for goals but if we can limit the supply to their forwards I would give ourselves a reasonable chance.”
Mulholland has made one change from the side which defeated Kerry in the semi-final a month ago, with Enna Glynn coming in at right-corner back in place of Declan Rattigan.
Derry coach Niall Conway is clearly very pleased with his charges as he keeps the same starting 15 which defeated Laois in the semi-final replay.
“We’ve rode our luck along the way. Cork had us beat in the quarter-final but we managed to come away with the win, while it took two games to see off Laois, a team hotly fancied to win out the championship. The one disappointing aspect of the season for me is that we are not going into tomorrow’s final as Ulster champions. We should never have lost that final to Tyrone, but if win the All-Ireland it would more than make up for that blip.”
Derry have had a couple of narrow escapes along the way. Cork led them by five points at half time only to lose by two while they led Laois by eight only to be pegged back in the drawn game, before surviving by two points in the replay.
Galway, on the other hand, dealt well with every team they’ve met. They looked a very competent side in seeing off the challenge of Kerry, with Conor Doherty showing marvellous flair for a wing back, coming forward to score 1-1, and Derry will have to stop him repeating that if they are to survive.
O Higgins; E Glynn, C Forde, K Kelly; C Doherty, D O’Reilly, T Fahy; P. Conroy (capt.), A Griffin; JJ Greaney, T Walsh, J O’Brien; J Ryan, M Martyn, D Reddington.
A Warnock; M McKinney, C McWilliams, D Bell; C McKaigue, J F. Bradley, B Henry; J Kielt, C O’Boyle; S Cleary, A Heron, D Mullan; N Forrester, G McGeehan, L Moore.
Derek Fahy (Longford).
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