The problem with being nice

THIS TIME last year Galway were building up a head of steam after a sprightly start to their Division 1 campaign under new manager Liam Sammon. They met Donegal in Ballybofey and a narrow one-point margin in the home side’s favour meant a first defeat for Sammon.

Comments about the same old failings rumbled beneath the surface but when Galway went on to record a further two wins against Mayo and Derry, critics were inclined to ignore the obvious deficiency in the Galway midfield, focussing instead on the rampant Galway forward division inspired by the re-emergence of the Joyce-Meehan axis down the middle.

All through the spring we watched as Geraghty, Coleman, Cullinane, Dunleavy et al were given their run-out at midfield with varying degrees of success. It wasn’t until a rusty Darragh Ó Sé blew out the last of his winter diesel in Salthill in April that it dawned on people in Galway and beyond that it really is very difficult to win anything meaningful without an established midfield pairing — or at least a contingency plan in the absence of same.

Based on what we have seen so far in this league campaign, Galway have one of the best midfielders in Ireland right now in Joe Bergin and even though they haven’t managed to unearth a reliable midfield partner in their three games to date, they are now able to camouflage any shortcomings in the middle third by having a greater application under the breaking ball and a more solid base in the half back line.

Galway are entitled to head into tomorrow’s game against Donegal in Salthill a lot more confidently than they would have headed off to Ballybofey at this juncture last year but they are as unlikely to get carried away with their league standing coming into this weekend’s action as they are with headline comments that would have them as genuine All Ireland contenders later on this year. In Galway’s case recent history would suggest that what the big print giveth, the small print taketh away. While there has been much to admire in Galway’s performances to date this season, seasoned observers in Galway still have reservations about so many of the current line up. For all Finian Hanley’s composure at full back, Damien Burke’s tendency to foul and a naive Niall Coyne could destabilise the last line of defence. Gareth Bradshaw is playing fantastic football on the right wing but Darren Mullahy doesn’t have the same presence on the other side. Diarmuid Blake won’t be found out in the centre until he meets a 40-yards man of Declan O’Sullivan’s calibre but Blake struggled so badly in that duel in last year’s All-Ireland quarter final that Liam Sammon must be using O’Sullivan as the yardstick again for this year.

Pádraic Joyce will still orchestrate things on the 40 but will Armstrong and Bane deliver when the heat gets turned up a notch with every passing week? Galway learnt last year that you don’t panic and kick the ball away when the pressure comes on outfield against quality opposition and now they have the experience and the players to do more damage with the possession they’re not giving away anymore. Paul Conroy’s absence (because of U-21 duty) for tomorrow’s game is to be lamented because he is fast becoming an influential figure and his clash with either Paddy McDaid or Eamon Magee would’ve been worth watching. Galway football people are wise enough to know that a decent run in spring will count for little when the ground hardens and the action moves to Croke Park.

It is an arresting statistic that by the next time Galway play football at headquarters, they will have gone a full eight championship years without a win on a pitch that lends itself so readily to their expansive style. The heroic performance of last August’s quarter final (and all the platitudes that went with it) is of little significance when you come out the wrong end of the result. In the wake of Frank Stockwell’s passing this week we are reminded once again that Galway teams of the past always played with a certain panache. Having played them so many times over the years you start to believe that they they’ve been eclipsed so often recently because they’ve refused to betray their principles and because they won’t abandon their preference for style over real substance. Orwell believed that “serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting”.

I doubt that Stockwell or any other Galway football person would agree but unless Galway learn how to turn the screw on opponents, they will get left behind.