Shane Walsh: Galway not content with Connacht crown

Connacht GAA Senior Football Championship Final, Pearse Stadium, Galway 29/5/2022. Roscommon vs Galway. Galway's Shane Walsh ©INPHO/Ben Brady

The loud and eye-catching statements made by Shane Walsh on Connacht final Sunday were not confined to the Pearse Stadium pitch.

Given his 1-6 contribution, not to mind the endless catalogue of sidesteps and dummies he produced during a display packed full of wizardry, it was no surprise that man of the match Walsh was the last Galway footballer to leave the field long after Joe McQuillan had whistled for full-time.

But before rejoining his teammates in a winning dressing-room that was bouncing along to a whole host of feel-good anthems, Walsh stopped to chat to waiting reporters, a conversation during which he articulated Galway’s goal of climbing “the steps of the Hogan [Stand] on the 24th of July”.

Whatever about bridging the 21-year gap to the county’s last Sam Maguire triumph, Walsh and his teammates will be keenly aware that their success on the western front means Galway’s route to a first All-Ireland final appearance since 2001 is free of either Dublin or Kerry. And with two from Armagh, Mayo, Monaghan, and Tyrone to exit the race this weekend, there is a real opportunity for Galway and whoever else ends up on that side of the draw to reach the concluding day of action.

First though, and as manager Pádraic Joyce articulated after the three-point win over Roscommon, Galway must correct their dreadful All-Ireland quarter-final record. Despite seven opportunities, the county has not won a standalone All-Ireland quarter-final since the aforementioned 2001 campaign - their progress to the 2018 semis came via the Super 8s.

A quarter-final win alone, however, won’t sate the appetite of this improving Galway group, according to Walsh.

“Management is putting the platform there for us to go out and perform. In fairness to everyone, they've been really driving it on and we're looking to improve every time we go out. The next four weeks, we are going to be going hard at it to try and perform again because that's what it's all about, it's to climb the steps of the Hogan [Stand] on the 24th of July,” he said.

Galway’s aim, so, is for outright success?

“It's the aim for every team at the start of the year. Obviously for us, we've a quarter-final now. The aim today was to take this game, it's going to be the same now we've an All-Ireland quarter-final coming up. That's what we're going after.

“There's no All-Ireland final without the quarter-final or semi-final. We won the Connacht final today, it's a platform into the All-Ireland series. We just have to keep working on ourselves and keep pushing it on. Look, if we win the quarter-final, we'll talk after that then again.”

Encouragingly, as Walsh sees it, Galway downed Mayo and Roscommon to secure provincial honours without hitting full stride.

Their closing out of games is one area that definitely requires improvement as Mayo whittled a six-point gap back to one late in the Connacht quarter-final, while Roscommon pared a nine-point deficit down to three at the end of Sunday’s decider.

“In the Mayo game, we were probably performing at 40% as a group. We said we wanted to build on that. In fairness to the lads, we've been putting in the work. Again today we won the game, but we probably could have won it more comfortably. Still a lot to improve on.

“It's great from a squad perspective because I still think the lads are probably realising the full potential that's in there. We just have to keep building ourselves and keep driving each other on because whatever comes down the track we have to be ready for it.”

Walsh, who pocketed his third Connacht SFC medal at the weekend, has for so long been the embodiment of Galway artistry, but it’s a creative flare that hasn’t always been matched by the necessary toil.

Sunday’s stats, particularly the 14 turnovers won, including one by Damien Comer close to the Galway 20-metre line, spoke of a willingness to marry glamour with graft.

“That's what we talked about, bringing that aggression,” the 28-year-old continued. “Roscommon are always known for it and sometimes we haven't been at the races and it cost us over the years. We said today we're going to put a marker down. Kieran [Molloy] put in a few big hits, John Daly put in a massive one as well.”