Galway football holds its breath

Considering Galway have annexed three U21 titles in slightly over a decade, and a minor in 2007, it is difficult to reconcile those facts with the total collapse at senior inter-county level over the same period.

Senior managers have come and gone but there has been no consistent success for a long time. Indeed the county’s last provincial title was back in 2008 and the last time they last defeated a county outside of Connacht in the championship was in 2004.

Admittedly a reasonable crop of players came out of the 2002 side in Joe Bergin, Kieran Fitzgerald and Nicky Joyce while Seán Armstrong, Michael Meehan and Finian Hanley became mainstays from the 2005 side.

However their emergence at senior level has not led to the expected breakthrough. That’s why there’s great interest in the current crop. From the 2011 success, both Fintán Ó Curraoin and Tom Flynn played senior championship at midfield with the county and both are midfield tomorrow evening.

Their displays have renewed optimism among the county’s supporters that they can be the foundation for a revival at senior level over the coming years. Galway have not had a powerful and established midfield since 2001 when Kevin Walsh and Michael Donnellan manned those berths.

But since then the senior squad have been on the end of countless one-point defeats in qualifier games, and have been nicely trimmed in Connacht by Sligo and Mayo over the past four seasons, hence confidence is at a very low ebb.

But this team has shown real grit and honesty in their tight wins over Mayo, the Connacht final against Roscommon after extra-time and the recent success over a profligate Kildare side who racked up 19 wides over the hour.

The belief, real or otherwise, is that this new side contains young men who will not back away from hard work, inter-county graft, and who are gutsy enough to add genuine impetus to the senior squad. The hope is there are eight to ten players from the current U21 panel that a senior team can be built around over the next eight or nine years, assuming they don’t have to emigrate for work.

The other big plus from a Galway perspective throughout this U21 campaign is that there are some high-quality scoring forwards on the team.

Shane Walsh, who has scored on average 0-6 in the past four games, full-forward Adrian Varley, centre-forward Seán Moran and Ian Burke are really talented and creative players on their way to the senior ranks.

The last thing any county should do is to force feed players into the senior starting 15. However Walsh’s form, who plays club football with Kilkerrin/Clonberne, has been so devastating that Alan Mulholland must be sorely tempted to give him a starting jersey against Mayo on May 19.

Two other names that could feature in the near future are James Shaughnessy (full-back) and Daithí Burke (centre-back). Burke is a dual star and highly coveted by the county hurling squad too. He is a big doubt for tomorrow’s clash with a tweaked hamstring, but on full throttle, he is one of the best young players in the county.

Galway fans will travel to Limerick hopeful for another All-Ireland U21 title. However, many will be there too for another reason, to see what latent potential is in the squad so they can bring some semblance of success at senior level over the coming years.