Putting the fire back in Galway
The endeavours of their U21 footballers in recent months has been a welcome shot in the arm. Tomorrow in Croke Park, they attempt to win the county’s third All-Ireland in this grade in a decade and bring some cheer to their football folk. For Galway U21 boss Alan Mulholland, the key to victory is to marry the county’s traditional attacking sparkle with defensive principles that govern the modern game.
He said: “It’s a tradition that I think we want to uphold and I would imagine the football board would support me in that. It’s probably a tradition that has grown up, that we like to play attacking football if we can. That doesn’t necessarily mean we are not aware of tactics — it’s a decision we make that we try not to get 12 men behind the ball. “It’s not that we have woken up 20 years after the GAA world has gone on. I think when a team plays defensive football, sometimes they are attributed with more tactical nuance than they deserve.
