Galway battle to build up belief

For 100 years Galway’s senior footballers have only had four barren spells when they went more than five years without a Connacht title.

Lose next Sunday and you can make that five.

Those blank periods, 1927-32, 1946-53, 1977-81 and 1988-94, were followed by eras of dominance that defined them as the third most successful football county in Ireland. The 1934 side claimed the first of two All-Irelands that decade, while the 1950s team, backboned by Tuam Stars players, controlled the province before the famed three in-a-row in the ’60s. In 1981 they won one of their four league titles and 1995’s heavy defeat of Mayo in a Connacht final was followed three years later by an All-Ireland under John O’Mahony.

Maybe that’s why Galway supporters tend not to see the darkness in voids quite like their neighbours. The unpredictability of the county has stopped them looking at the form guide. But that’s also part of the problem.

“Sometimes expectation in the county is an issue,” admitted captain Finian Hanley. “We are third in the pecking order in terms of All-Irelands won and supporters in our own county are thinking ‘what can Galway do this year?’

“They have had experiences before when they were poor for a year, and then another year and then suddenly go on and win an All-Ireland. We always think this year is the year and that is the way it is. It has to be the ambition of Galway that we always think that we can get to the top table.”

Throughout Galway football history the only consistent thing has been the gap between the Tribesmen and neighbours Mayo. A study carried out in the Western People in the 1990s found that only a kick of a ball separated the sides when the scores from 50 previous meetings were tallied.

So you can be sure this game will be tight despite Galway’s recent record against Mayo’s?

Not so, says Mayo manager James Horan, they are favourites for a reason: “I’m not quite as convinced that form goes out the window and it’s always a kick of a ball. It’s what you make on the day. We’ll be preparing well and looking to do our stuff on May 19.”

Bullish but realistic. In the modern game consistency is the buzzword. If you’re not in Division 1 then don’t think about Sam in September. And Galway’s footballers now crave for consistency like this Mayo side.

“Their [Mayo] record speaks for itself,” said Galway captain Finian Hanley. “They have proven that they can get to All-Ireland finals and win tight games along the way. They have beaten Dublin in the heat of battle in Croke Park so they are well able to win those kind of games.

“I know Galway have done so as well in the past. We are looking to get that consistency that we can grind out these games and when we are ahead in games that we can push on. I think that is what most teams want. I think this is the best Mayo team over the last 20 years by miles.”

To win on Sunday Galway will have to overcome recent weaknesses. When Hanley joined the Galway panel in 2005 they took the JJ Nestor Cup home but he has only seen it on a Galway bus once since then, in 2008. For a side built on the back of four U21 All-Ireland winning sides since 2002 it’s not good enough.

The last four years they’ve been knocked out of the qualifiers by a point and haven’t beaten a side outside Connacht since overcoming Louth in 2004. But even players go back to the past looking for positive signs and they’ll be carrying one into this game.

“I have seen the stat at U21 level, and I know it is different, but in the last 10 years at U21 level we have won the Connacht championship and each time we have gone on to win the All-Ireland.

“When we do get to the latter stages of the championship we are competitive and we have shown that in the past and I think that is the common denominator with Galway, getting over these early rounds, getting over these obstacles and getting the belief and confidence, with wins come confidence, and if we can get a couple of wins on board we will have great confidence the football will flow out of Galway the way it always has been.”