This could be last All-Ireland chance for Galway’s senior players – Concannon

The Connacht side booked their place in the championship decider with a win over Donegal on Sunday.

ONWARDS: Damien Comer of Galway and selector John Concannon celebrate after the final whistle on Sunday. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Galway selector John “Scan” Concannon admits Sunday week’s All-Ireland final could be the last chance for the group’s senior players to claim the ultimate prize.

Their All-Ireland semi-final victory over Donegal was largely down to the younger or less seasoned players but he expects Paul Conroy (35), Shane Walsh (31), Connor Gleeson (31), Damien Comer (30) and Johnny Heaney (30) will be aiming to make more of an impact against Armagh.

After losing to Kerry in the 2022 final, they and others shouldn’t need to be reminded about what is required. “There are lads there 30, 31, Paul Conroy is 35 and they know this could be their final chance,” says Concannon. “Beating Dublin was just a step in the road, Donegal was another one and we have one more to go and we’ll give it our best shot.

“It’s up to us to keep the lads’ feet on the ground. The experience of two years ago should help. We were all new to it two years ago. It’s our second All-Ireland final in three years but it’s a totally different team. You could say it’s a new full-back line, a lot of new players, a lot of experience still there but you could see against Donegal that we didn’t rely on the older players.” 

On the flipside, Concannon senses Armagh still have an itch to scratch with Galway after losing the penalty shoot-out in the 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final replay.

Armagh have since finished ahead of Galway twice in their All-Ireland groups, beating them last year and coming back to square this year’s meeting in Markievicz Park, but Concannon still believes that defeat rankles Kieran McGeeney’s group.

“They pipped us last year by a point and we drew with them in Sligo. We beat them in the penalties game two years ago so it’s evenly-matched and they will probably feel they still owe us one after that than we do them one.

“It’s going to be 50-50, nobody can dispute that. It’s a novel pairing in an All-Ireland final, both teams will go in fully believing they can win and I’d say the next two weeks are going to be frantic.” 

Galway’s difficulty during the league when they had so many first-team players sidelined has turned out to be an opportunity as they have developed their squad options.

“Look it, everybody was talking about our bench the last couple of games and we had great faith in them all year,” says Concannon. “It’s been well documented our league campaign and how we got game-time into new players and it’s worked in our favour. And then when our substitutes came on, I thought Johnny Heaney, Daniel O’Flaherty, John Daly were all immense for us.” 

Concannon also singled out Dylan McHugh for praise. The Corofin man is a strong contender for footballer of the year. “Unbelievable. We brought him in three, four years ago, he was young and it took him maybe a year or two to get used to the inter-county scene but this year he’s just been immense for us.

“He’s rarely injured, trains very hard and does all the right things. An exceptional footballer and hopefully he can keep it going for another day.”