Diarmuid Murtagh did brilliantly and that shouldn’t be forgotten but, as far as the defending goes, that was shocking from Galway.
It was absolutely shocking and while they don’t need anyone to tell them that but, make no mistake about it, someone has told them exactly that. It could have been John Divilly, it could have been John Concannon and it could have been Padraic Joyce but whoever it was that took their most recent video-analysis session, it won’t have been pretty for the boys.
Oh to be a fly-on-the-wall because, at moments like that, as Eamon McGee and Finian Hanley will tell you, there’ll have been skin flying and there’ll have been hair flying in the Galway dressing room.
“Tomorrow night or whenever it was, you’d hate to be in that video analysis session because you’d have your hands over your eyes,” said Finian Hanley on Monday’s GAA Hour Football Show.
Here’s why.
Diarmuid Murtagh has just won the Division Two final for Roscommon with an absolute screamer
And the TG4 commentator has lost his hat!pic.twitter.com/j7qIWwgArh
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) April 3, 2022
Eamon McGee has been that soldier.
“Murtagh’s goal was one of them moments in the season where it goes up on the video analysis and people are savaged and you know, you spend a good hour discussing this one clip,” the Donegal man says.
“It could even become pivotal to your season because you’ll be saying to each other, ‘we’ll never do that again.’ As a defender, like, I’ve a wee bit of an interest in coaching but for defenders, that’s just shocking,” he added.
It’s been a tale of inconsistency for this Galway side over the last two years and, as it comes to the crunch with the championship getting closer, he says there’ll be some soul-searching going on, by players and management.
“Sometimes, as a defender, as an attacker, there’s moments like that, that you can bounce off them because you’ll be like ‘this will never happen to us again. I remember with Donegal, there were moments where we were watching teams getting three or four shots off, getting it shown to us and that defined this mentality – teams do not get a shot off easily.”
Finian Hanley agrees with McGee and says that ‘watery defending’ has been associated with Galway teams for some time.
“You can have too many people in and around as well. Sometimes, it’s that anybody, somebody, nobody thing. I know Sean Kelly and Conroy were there, but when there’s so many lads there, lads don’t do what they should do,” added Hanley.
“Pulling him down and giving away the free would have been the sensible option there but they didn’t do it.
“People will always say we’ve been watery at the back and Padraic will have a lot to ponder the next while over the defence,” added the former Ireland International Rules captain.
Ironically, Paul Conroy was one of the culpable few for the goal but, on a brighter note, he was Galway’s best player on the day kicking 0-6 from midfield. As a man that knows him well, Hanley was hardly surprised.
"He never rocks up saying 'aw I'm tight or I'll give it a miss tonight.' Breaking his leg in two places was the only thing that could keep him out and even at that, he was probably still saying I'll be back." – Finian Hanley on Paul Conroy.
🎧 https://t.co/gyRdtVb5hv🎧 pic.twitter.com/tnxQ3o8wvX— The GAA Hour (@TheGAAHour) April 6, 2022
“Paul is just super. He loves playing for his county. He arrives to training, he’s never injured, never rocks up saying ‘aw I’m tight or I’ll give it a miss tonight.’ Breaking his leg in two places was the only thing that could keep him out and even at that, he was probably still saying I’ll be back.
“He’s the first out on the pitch all the time. Even the recovery sessions, he’s out there first, out there kicking. He doesn’t always play well but he’s always battling, I haven’t seen many midfield performances as good.
