Seán Kelly hopes Galway’s footballers can pick up their first league win of the season when Tyrone visit Tuam on Sunday.
Galway, who lost last year’s All-Ireland final to Kerry, are still seeking a maiden Division One victory this campaign following an opening round draw away to Mayo and a loss last time out to Roscommon at Pearse Stadium.
The Tribesmen were aiming to harness the momentum from last year’s encouraging championship form, so after two winless weekends there is an eagerness within the camp to address that this Sunday.
“That’s it, you don’t want to be a flash in the pan or anything like that,” says Kelly.
“We had a disappointing start to the first couple of games, with a loss in the FBD [Connacht League] and then the two disappointing results at the start of the league. Obviously, it’s something we’ll look to try to get right and to improve.”
Galway will continue to be lightweight up top this weekend as they enter the Tyrone game without the entire full-forward line that started against Kerry in last year’s All-Ireland decider.
Shane Walsh is in Australia on a pre-arranged break, Rob Finnerty suffered ankle ligament damage against Mayo and Damien Comer had to be carried off the field on a stretcher during the early stages of the loss to Roscommon.
There were some initial fears the Galway forward had suffered a cruciate knee ligament tear, but thankfully scans alleviated those concerns, though Comer is unlikely to see any further action in the league.
“It was disappointing to see him stretchered off but thankfully it’s not anything serious and he can hopefully be back as soon as he can and contribute to our year,” adds Kelly.
Galway will need their other forwards to step up now in the weeks ahead because keeping the scoreboard ticking over has been an issue in the opening two games. Defensively, the Connacht champions have actually looked fine – they conceded 1-11 against Mayo and only 0-9 against Roscommon.
“The draw against Mayo, there were just a couple of little mistakes but we probably didn’t play our best football either,” says Kelly.
“The same with the Roscommon game, it was a draw game up until the last play of the game when they kicked a point, so obviously a bit disappointed with that as well.
“But we were in the games, we were solid defensively. I think it was James Carr got a lovely goal against us but I think that has been the only goal we conceded. We have been solid enough defensively but it’s trying to bring that attacking game on, it’s something we have been working on in the last two weeks during the break, to try get those silly mistakes out of our game. It has been a tough two weeks of training to fix this.”
The last 12 months have been hectic for Kelly, with the All-Ireland club senior final being the only decider he missed out on contesting from those available to him. He played in a Sigerson final this time last year, helped Galway win the FBD League final, played in the Division Two league showdown, the Connacht final and the All-Ireland decider, while at club level he was part of Moycullen’s Galway and Connacht championship-winning sides.
“Making those finals is an achievement in itself,” he says. “Obviously, the results, you’d have preferred them to go the other way, some of them.
“And it’s something you hope to put right in the coming years or even this year if we can push on and improve, it’s something we’re looking to do.
“We set a high bar, but at the same time we failed really [to win the All-Ireland final]. It is trying to get that extra one or two or 10 per cent. Whether it’s hard conversations, or whatever it is, we have to find it as a group to push on and it’s something that we will look to do.”
– Seán Kelly was speaking at the announcement of Allianz’s new sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. The three-year deal also sees Allianz become official sponsor of both the Camogie Association and the GAA Museum at Croke Park.
