Mean machines burst Galway’s bubble

On Saturday, I noted that Roscommon possess all the necessary ingredients to successfully raid the Tommy Nestor cup from Galway’s possession.

They carried out Kevin McStay’s plan with aplomb and displayed the Hardy Bucks attitude along with some sublime skills and maturity. Galway had an opportunity to turn in consecutive consistent performance that would yield passage to the quarter-final. But we failed miserably and now enter a cauldron of uncertainty and a Michael Murphy-led Donegal.

I asked for our short kickout, high-risk strategy to be mixed up. What did we get? Our first kickout was short and intercepted. Roscommon score. The Galway crowd look at each other and think, ‘Is this really happening again?’. Two long kickouts follow and then trouble. After the third consecutive short kickout, Johnny Heaney overcarries and Diarmuid Murtagh points the resultant free. The Galway supporters have had enough. Programmes fly in the air, patience is worn — and there’s less than ten minutes played!