Alan’s defensive concerns

Galway’s forwards were energised by their four-goal haul but manager Alan Mulholland admitted the opposite was true for their defenders.

Leaking four second-half goals has given the Tribesmen plenty to think about ahead of their All-Ireland quarter-final clash with a Kerry side that oozes attacking class.

“There’s a lot of lads in our dressing-room that are disappointed,” said Mulholland.

“The full-back line are extremely disappointed with the way lads were let run in on top of them in the second-half.

“We definitely retreated into our shell and didn’t pick up lads high enough up the pitch. We allowed them to come at us and we’ll have to work on that because that’s not going to do against Kerry.

“Six years is a long time to be away from the quarter-finals though so, look, hopefully this result will be a fillip to everyone.

“It was a very tough match for us. The betting had it 50-50 and I suppose we couldn’t let Tipperary beat Galway in the football and hurling in the same year, could we?

“It was always going to be a tough game. We played very well generally. I’m very happy with some passages of our play though disappointed with the way we let in goals in the end.”

Mulholland said it would have been difficult to deliver such a display if they’d played the following weekend after their Connacht final loss.

“If we’d had to play the following weekend, definitely the lads had dipped,” he said. “You could feel the energy was only coming back on Tuesday and Thursday of training in the run up to this game.

“I don’t think we would have been able to do what we did if we’d had to play the previous weekend.”