Tribe's Ford focussed on future

Despite the heart-stopping nature of Galway's collapse against Cork in yesterday's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final, boss Peter Ford is confident his side will bounce back.

With an All-Ireland Under-21 title, the Tribesmen's second in four seasons garnered in May, and a 99th Connacht SFC crown also in the bag, Ford can still look back on an encouraging first season at the helm.

Yesterday's 2-11 to 2-14 was admittedly "a bitter pill to swallow" for the ex-Mayo player, as the Rebels hit Galway for a match-winning 1-8 in the second half. In reply, Ford's charges could only manage a single point from play from Michael Meehan, allied to three Padraig Joyce frees.

"Based on the amount of play we had in the first half we probably should have been further ahead at half-time (2-7 to 1-6)," conceded Ford.

"In the second half we struggled in a lot of positions and we also missed a number of scoring opportunities. For some reason we just weren't able to build on our first half performance."

Ford, who started five of his All-Ireland Under-21 winners, added: "This is a young Galway team and there's plenty of football left in them."