Two Tribes go to war in Salthill

That Galway county board officials are expecting a crowd in excess of 10,000 for tomorrow’s double-header at Salthill gives fair indication of how high the stakes are.

Unless Mayo, Roscommon or Sligo are visiting for a Connacht championship fixture at the height of summer, such a swell of GAA goers is rarely seen filing through Pearse Stadium’s gates. We’d make a hurling comparison but the hurling championship doesn’t stray west anymore. And probably won’t for a while yet to come. Hence, the importance of the second of tomorrow’s games – the meeting of Waterford and Galway in the hurling league quarter-final.

Board top-brass, long before their motion went to Congress earlier this year seeking full integration into a single provincial structure, were harping on about the urgent need for more high profile games in the city.