Crisis talk has Hanley scratching his head

ANOTHER defeat for Galway, then, but the visitors didn’t leave Newry last night without attempting to dispel the rumours of discontent that followed them to Ulster earlier in the day.

It was the midweek defections of joint-captain Kieran Fitzgerald and Niall Coleman that first raised the suspicion that all was not well in the Connacht side’s camp following the dispiriting opening loss in Monaghan.

Subsequent comments from former All-Ireland-winning captain and Irish Examiner columnist Ray Silke fanned the flames further and few were doused by county football chairman John Joe Holloran’s stringent denials a day later.

“The thing about all that talk was that none of it was coming from anyone in the squad,” said captain Finian Hanley, whose words were echoed by manager Tomas Ó Flathárta’s talk of a “united” camp.

“We were hearing about it and wondering where it was all coming from. We’re training away and we’re focused on training and things are going well. We did better this week than the first week and that’s what it’s all about, improving all the time and it’s the same now on Tuesday in training. That’s all that matters to us.”

They might have been better here than in Monaghan but it was all relative. Galway were poor and could do with every available hand on deck but Ó Flathárta is having to make do without more than just Fitzgerald and Coleman.

Michael Meehan and Padraic Joyce were in Newry yesterday but both were in their civvies and the Galway boss indicated it will be the end of the league at the earliest before either one is fit to participate.

Nicky Joyce is another current high-profile absentee but Ó Flathárta revealed that “he hasn’t given us any indication that he wants to play football at all this year”.

On the plus side, Diarmuid Blake made his return as a substitute after further suggestions questioning his input in 2011 while attacking wing-back Darren Mullaly is yet another still to report for duty.

All that is for later in the year, however. As it was, Galway were further hampered yesterday by the withdrawals of goalkeeper Adrian Faherty and Gareth Bradshaw, who picked up knocks on Sigerson Cup duty during the week.

Not a great platform, all told, for a journey to the home of last year’s All-Ireland finalists but the fact is that Galway were within one score of an unlikely win until Peter Fitzpatrick made it safe for the hosts with an injury-time goal.

Galway may have been limited but their willingness to put in the hard graft conspired with Down’s largesse to allow them reach the 72nd minute with hopes of a valuable two points very much alive and kicking.

As was the case against Monaghan, Ó Flathárta’s side enjoyed a fruitful opening quarter and led by five points to one before Down found their feet and engineered an eight-point swing that took them into the break 1-7 to 0-6 in front.

The lead should have been even greater. Conor Maginn’s 29th-minute goal could, and possibly should, have been accompanied by three more green flags in that first half and the wides accrued from point attempts were equally glaring.

Down constructed enough flowing moves throughout the first-half to suggest that they would pull well clear on the restart. They didn’t. Conor Laverty deprived Marty Clarke of an open goal after 44 minutes when he took one step too many and Galway held on to their coat-tails thanks to Gary O’Donnell’s three-pointer with 11 minutes to go.

By then, the game had degenerated into a sloppy, unappetising spectacle, one that left both managers with much to chew over even if James McCartan will do so with the comforting cushion of three points from his first two fixtures.

“We are happy with the two points but we still wouldn’t be happy with some of the decision-making in the forward line,” said McCartan. “I felt the reason the game was in the balance was our decision-making in the middle third. We were giving speculative 50/50 balls when we didn’t need to.”

Scorers for Down: P Fitzpatrick 1-1, C Maginn 1-0, C Laverty 0-2, M Clarke 0-2 (two from frees), M Poland 0-2 (two from frees), D Rooney 0-2, D Hughes 0-1, P McComiskey 0-1 (one free).

Scorers for Galway: G O’Donnell 1-0, S Armstrong 0-3 (one free), M Clancy 0-2, J Bergin 0-2, C Bane 0-2 (one free).

Subs for Down: C Garvey for Howard (9), J Colgan for King (51), A Carr for Poland (60), L Doyle for Brannigan (67).

Subs for Galway: F Breathnach for McGrath (32), D Blake for Hoare (47), C Kenny for Clancy (52), D Cummins for De Paor (52), K Brady for Breathnach (67).

Referee: E Kinsella (Laois).