Mayo send Galway into free fall

IF Galway were a political party right now they would be Fianna Fáil.

Their once proud stock has been on the slide for some time but it hit arguably its lowest ebb yesterday when, of all people, Enda Kenny’s own countymen departed their footballing heartland of Tuam with an eight-points win.

The defeat was Galway’s third straight in this Allianz League Division One campaign and, with Kerry and Cork next on their agenda, relegation is already a grave concern with four games remaining.

Their league standing would appear to be the least of their worries.

The manner in which Galway have slunk to their hat-trick of defeats has been hugely dispiriting and this latest loss most of all.

Down by just a goal at half-time (0-7 to 1-7), and with the wind behind them after the break, they were well positioned to overcome a Mayo side that was itself seeking a first win. Instead, they faded from the game like a cheap watercolour from a canvas.

In that respect, it was a carbon copy of their displays away to Monaghan and Down when promising openings gave way to convincing defeats and opened the door to criticism and despair.

Both will multiply this week.

It was a performance that again betrayed a dearth of confidence and, while new manager Tomás Ó Flatharta’s tenure will inevitably be a source of speculation now, he was right to point out that the problems pre-date his arrival.

“That has been the case for the last number of years,” said Ó Flatharta of the side’s low self-esteem. “It is the same so far this year but we have to stick together and each of us has to work very hard and keep improving. It is going to take time for us to start working and improving ourselves. It is happening very slowly. We have a few tough games ahead. There is some improvement needed and the only ones that can do it is ourselves.”

It’s worth pointing out that Galway weren’t handed a heavy defeat by a team playing sublime football. Mayo’s display was their best this year, and by some distance, but they have considerable work to do themselves.

The opening ten minutes of the tie was evidence enough of the problems afflicting both counties with poor shooting and worse passing pebble-dashing the view for the hardy 3,000 or so in attendance.

And then, just when spirits sank lowest, the game briefly caught fire. The next ten minutes flew by with nine points scored (Mayo 4, Galway 5) before the visitors struck for the opening goal.

A beauty it was, too. The odds weren’t promising for Jason Doherty when he took possession 30 metres out and with his back to goal but he turned, covered the ground in a flash and finished low past Paraic Lally.

Not bad for a 21-year old who was making his league debut and he claimed another 12 minutes after the restart, this time courtesy of a more routine finish that seemed to materialise from a nondescript passage of play.

By then, Mayo were already over the hills and far away. They scored 1-8 without reply between the stroke of half-time and the 56th minute when a Sean Armstrong point ended Galway’s embarrassing drought. So dominant were Mayo in that second-half that they felt comfortable punching out with ten minutes still to play which allowed their hosts rattle off four unanswered points and add a smidgen of gloss to the scoreboard.

Mayo boss James Horan admitted t an element of complacency set in and he will no doubt measure the worth of this performance, if not the two points, against the difficulties currently being suffered by his opposite number.

“We got a few points early on (in the second-half), Galway’s heads dropped and we kicked on and built up a sizeable lead. They weren’t going to come back from ten or 11 points down and we weren’t going to lose it from there. I will expect a lot more from them in the summer. Galway are a lot better than they showed there. They have a few things to sort out, I assume, and they will be there or thereabouts in the summer.”

Spoken like a true politician.

On this evidence, Galway will be taking their holidays early yet again this year.

Scorers for Galway: C Bane (0-5, 2 frees); S Armstrong (0-4, 2 frees, 1 ‘45’); J Bergin (0-3).

Scorers for Mayo: J Doherty (2-1); A Dillon (0-5, 4 frees); A Campbell (0-3); K McLaughlin (0-3); A O’Shea (0-1); A Moran (0-1).

Subs for Galway: D O’Reilly for Reilly (26); O Concannon for Cummins (26); D Blake for Conroy (48); D Mullahy for Forde (53); N Coyne for Brady (57).

Subs for Mayo: C Hallinan for A Feeney (35); T Parsons for Kilcullen (46); P Gardiner for Burke (49); J Moran for Campbell (57); L Keegan for Cunniffe (61).

Referee: D Fahy (Longford).