For the 2nd year running, I will not be attending a Connacht Senior Football Championship encounter involving my county Galway and our neighbours/rivals Mayo. For the 2nd year running, the reason is the same, my country. With the Republic of Ireland playing Austria in a World Cup qualifier at 5pm the same day the Connacht Semi-Final throws in at 4pm, I have been placed into limbo over the teams I’ve pled my sporting allegiance and native pride too. In the end, I have dictated that my country comes first, that the prospect of qualifying for a World Cup supercedes that of qualifying for a Nestor Cup showdown.
It wasn’t as difficult last summer. Euro 2016 was in full flow and there was never a chance I would miss out on that. There were sacrifices made to make it possible, between saving money, selling jerseys, taking holidays, and missing Galway secure their first win over Mayo in eight years. Earlier that day, I had watched Belgium tear Ireland apart in the second half of our group game in Bordeaux, that left our qualifying hopes in the balance with one game to play. To complete our misery, both my Galway friends and I would have to wait till 8 that evening for our two and a half hour journey back to our base in La Rochelle. We wouldn’t even get to chance to watch the Gaelic Football. As we sat in the sun drowning our sorrows, I defiantly stated that “I’d rather be in Bordeaux right now than Castlebar”. The lads laughed, stating what situation would you rather be in Castlebar. Well a few hours later there was a valid situation when word came through that Galway had overcome the reigning Connacht champions by 1-12 to 0-12. We relied upon text updates on the bus back and celebrated our victory by cracking more cans open, and smirking in the general direction of our solitary Mayo friend with us on the trip.
As a result of my absence, I’m doing my level best to avoid all pre-match talk of the game. My logic is that if I remove myself as far away as the game as possible, then I won’t be bothered so much about it. Every notification on Facebook that Tribesmen GAA puts up, or tweets from Connacht GAA (my former employers and a great bunch of people) about the game isn’t helping that however. You see, I’ve NEVER witnessed Galway beating Mayo in person in my life in the Senior Championship. So part of me laments the fact that last year I missed it. And this year I could miss it again. Right now I’m spending a couple of days back home in Galway so I can’t escape it. Thoughts have crossed my mind of praying for a draw on Sunday so I could attend the replay. That’s the ideal scenario. Maybe I just need to devote all my focus on the Ireland v Austria game instead. And I will, right after I finish this article
Galway are Division 2 Champions, they reached the U-21 final not long after, and ended 8 years without a provincial title last summer. They are a team that has been on a steady rise in the last of couple of years ever since Kevin Walsh took over in 2015. Mayo in 2017 have consolidated their Division 1 status, after losing last year’s All-Ireland final narrowly to Dublin. There is a lot of mileage on the team over the last 5 years but there are a few bright talents making a name for themselves coming through. Are they a wounded animal? How badly do they want to get one over on Galway after last year? Do they envisage beating us this Sunday and winning the Connacht final next month? Do Galway need to win this to firmly announce their intentions of returning to the top table? Are they more motivated to win Connacht or to reach a semi-final instead? Will we see either team in August and how will this game impact upon that? They are just some questions I’ve thought about off the top of my head in the most intriguing battle between Galway and Mayo for some time.
I watched the 2nd half of Mayo-Sligo 3 weeks ago. I felt Sligo were very naïve and could have made things very uncomfortable for Mayo late on had they been more ambitious or clinical. It wasn’t so much because Mayo were poor but because Mayo were so wasteful. What turnovers they usually forced or were gifted to them by Sligo were not punished enough. It was only until their 2nd goal had they put the Yeats County challenge to bed, and put a more respectable look on the scoreboard from their perspective. However, we’ve been here before. In 2015, I felt Mayo were there for the taking after they left Salthill with a four point win. Last year we did take them but in both years it was Mayo and not Galway who were making headlines at the business end of the season. They were the team that have given Dublin the biggest challenge they’ve had since their last defeat in the Championship. I’m of the opinion that Mayo simply do not have the firepower to propel them to an All-Ireland title and their wastefulness in front of goal time after time reinforces this. Cillian O’Connor offers little aside from his free-taking, Andy Moran, a very good footballer, cannot do it on his own. Aidan O’Shea, the most talked about Mayo footballer since Conor Mortimer and Ciaran McDonald, is still trying to find his most effective position. Is it full-forward, centre half forward or even midfield. Mayo have excellent footballers on their team and bring an intensity and an effective gameplan to their matches that serves them well. Will that be enough to get them over the line in 2017 however? On Sunday, we could see an ever improving Galway side win. Far from it to be a death knell to Mayo’s chances though. While I do believe theirs is a team that time is going against in search of their holy grail, I’ve learnt that at this stage it is foolish to write them off.
Everything was going great for Galway last year before Tipperary came along and burst our bubble. It was back to the drawing board according to some, another false dawn, another setback at Croke Park. However, we’ve bounced back and enter this years Football Championship in great form. The initial goal this year was to gain promotion to Division 1 and we’ve done that. We went one better by doing it as Division 2 Champions, defeating Kildare by 0-18 to 0-16 at Croke Park. It was our first victory at HQ in 16 years and a massive step in this team’s development. Our strength in depth as a squad continues to grow, with a variable approach to our front six and different options available in defence. How Kevin Walsh manages this new found depth and optimism in the Galway camp is important. I’ll admit in getting carried away myself before the quarter-final against Tipp and thinking about the last four. We were served with another reminder that there is still some way to go before we can think about September. However, our optimism is not unfounded this summer. Galway are going places and it is going into a game against Mayo not relying on hope or for our opponents to have an off day for the first time in a number of years.
That being said, it could be the making of this Galway team to go through the back door to reach the quarter finals this time around. During their League campaign, they started off with a two wins and a draw before meeting Meath in Navan. An interesting and close game where Meath prevailed by a single point could have been a setback that derailed Galway in the past but they rallied back to win all their remaining games and ensure promotion. I would be very interested to see how we would react to losing against Mayo and go through the qualifiers. It done Mayo no harm last summer and I think it could be the same for us. The extra games in the qualifiers would serve as a great development to a team that is still progressing all the time.
One whole aspect of this game I am delighted I will miss (apart from the prospect of witnessing Mayo beat Galway) is the tedious complaints that will follow about the game being held in Pearse Stadium. It will rear the ugly debate about Pearse Stadium-Tuam Stadium. An extension of a city versus county debate, West versus East divide, Tradition vs. future or the traffic coming into Salthill versus the Traffic that would be in Tuam. Whatever angle you decide to adopt, I’m sick to death hearing of the usual merry go round of opinion that dominates the discussion more than the game would do in the aftermath. The primary reason why I hate it so much is because, as a Tuam native (exiled in Dublin) who has no issue with Pearse Stadium, this is a debate that is greatly harming Galway GAA and it is something that will not be resolved until a lot of people take a step back and inject a dose of realism into their nostalgic driven complaints.
Let’s state for the record, driving to Pearse Stadium on matchday is a nightmare. I’ve been there as a passenger many times, contemplating my life decisions while waiting in traffic. It’s something that does impact upon the match day occasion and the Galway County Board have done their level best to rectify the issues surrounding it. There is only so much they can do however. And in applying some common sense and thinking ahead, you can avoid ample levels of stress in the build-up. My experience going to Galway vs. Mayo in the same venue two years ago opened up my eyes a lot. I had stayed in Galway city the night before as I had travelled back from Dublin that evening. The day of the game I was left waiting for my father to travel up. He left Tuam that morning at 12pm on a private bus operator. Arriving in Eyre Square before one, he then took a Bus Eireann commuter bus to Salthill and before 20 past one, we were having pints in The Bal Bar. Upon the final whistle, we walked back to Eyre Sqaure and got the bus home at 6.20pm. We were back in our house 7.15pm. No long delays or hassle for either of us, other than sunburns on our faces.
It wasn’t arduous, or torture of any kind. Neither of us had any hassle because we used public transport and our own two feet. Now imagine if others had done the same? I don’t expect 30’000 people plus to hop on Bus Eireann or hire private buses from Mayo but you don’t all have to get parking at the Promenade or nearby. That same day, I met a Mayo family, who arrived into the pub at 12pm having left Foxford that morning. They had 4 hours plus to relax before the game, either settling into a pub or restaurant or taking in the beautiful weather that was on show that day before making their way to the Stadium. Four hours may seem long but it wouldn’t take long before you’re immersed in the pre-match atmosphere and enjoying yourself in the build-up. Too many people, especially from East Galway leave it far too late to travel to the game, getting themselves caught up in traffic and eventually missing some of the action. Who is to blame for that? I’ve been to countless sporting matches across Europe and through trial and error, I know when to leave for a game. You need to take everything into account. I had no sympathy for people who only got home around 9pm that evening.
Switching stadiums does nothing drastic to alleviate the problems you face on matchday. Tuam is no stranger to traffic. When I worked in Galway City, I saw traffic every morning leaving for work on the bus as the town was engulfed with the school runs. I remember coming home from Cologne in 2013 on the same day as the county final between Corofin and Salthill-Knocknacarra, which was being held in Tuam Stadium. As the bus came into the town, a good half hour after the final had ended, large amounts of traffic were still coming out of the vicinity of the ground. In case people have forgotten, there have been extensive roadworks going in Tuam for years now. Most significantly, the new motorway on the Galway Road would be an absolute disaster this weekend if the game was on in the Stadium. For Galway fans that is because if anything, switching to Tuam would make it far easier for Mayo fans to travel than it does for Galway supporters. The town is only 15-20 minutes from the border. You could put the game on in the Moon and Mayo fans would find their way to the game so why make things easier for them?
It feeds into a greater ignorance, an insular attitude amongst some people in this area. They would rather move games to Tuam, thus making it easier for Mayo fans and solving nothing in the process, and make it incredibly arduous for supporters travelling from the West of Galway. Our support in the West is arguably more vocal and most evident in the last 10 years, especially when things haven’t been going well. It’s an insult to give them no thought because you are only interested in what’s best for your own town. Why bow down to a tradition that is becoming more a myth than it is practice? Where were the great crowds for the Interprovincial games at Tuam Stadium in 2014? Crowds didn’t even break 500 as the best footballers in Ireland played out two superb games of football. Where was the great football tradition then? I’d much rather think about what is best for Galway football than my home town. And bringing Senior Inter-County games back to Tuam Stadium is not whats best for Galway football.
This notion has gathered greater momentum in the last 3 years because of the advent of fundraising group called Development Advocates for Tuam Stadium, or DAfTS for short. This group was set-up to raise funds for a Four Phase Redevelopment of Tuam Stadium, beginning with the dressing rooms. Now far from it from me to question the merit and intentions of those involved in DAfT. For a town that complains about losing everything, finally one group has stood up and made an effort. And for that they must be applauded. However, what is the end game for them? Their mission statement is to support the future and further development of Tuam Stadium as a major centre for playing GAA games at all levels”. That’s fantastic and well worth supporting but numerous individuals in the town believe them to be the driving force in facilitating the return of Senior Championship football at Inter County level. Numerous businesses in the town offered their support, and there is one particular proprietor of a local ale house who has been vocal for years on the issue. His ramblings are typical of this pathetic insular attitude I’m referring to. For example, in his opinion “the County Board continue to mess Tuam about with their stalling tactics” and its “downright outrageous behaviour towards the diaspora and the people of Tuam”. It is despairing stuff. Continuing to feed into the notion that Tuam Stadium is the HOME of Galway football. Tell me how much of a fortress the stadium was when it was losing to Leitrim in the mid-nineties? No disrespect a great Leitrim team by the way but there is no mythical aura about the ground that serves to benefit Galway football.
The thing is everyone tends to complain about the traffic and not about the facilities. Pearse Stadium is by far the best multi-purpose stadium in the county. Eamonn Deacy Park is fantastic too but far too small and hard to access. And the Sportsgrounds, the home of Connacht Rugby, is a Greyhound track primarily throughout the year. That is why Pearse Stadium is listed as one of the venues in Ireland’s 2023 Rugby World Cup bid. However hard it might be to get there, there is no better place to have Galway’s footballers and hurlers playing. Some people in the county need to realise this. Too much has been invested in the ground to simply cast it aside in favour of investing more into another venue. If Galway need to invest somewhere, I’d much rather they continue to upgrade their facilities in Loughgeorge or supporting the coaching efforts in our future. What good is it having two great stadiums and having no players worthy to play there. All-Ireland finals won’t be played in Galway, and people won’t be complaining travelling to those when we get there so why should it be an issue for our home games then? Why can’t you support the team, through thick and thin?
Tuam Stadium would need to be completely overhauled much like Pairc Ui Chaoimh has been for modern demands. More and more GAA grounds across Ireland will be become more and more obsolete as the landscape of sporting venues continues to change in the future. Now the cost would not be as high as the 78 million that was used for Corks premier venue, but you’re still talking astronomical amounts for the people involved. The capacity of Tuam Stadium is 6’700 as of today. Imagine the level of work needed to upgrade it to a suitable 25’000 plus venue to host GAA at all levels in years to come. As successful as DAfTS has been so far, they are going to need to win the Euromillions to properly renovate the ground to those standards. That is if they want to satisfy the section of supporters, Galway and Mayo alike, that want to travel in Tuam instead of Salthill. They are going to do great things for Tuam Stadium and when their project ends I hope people can appreciate that, whatever happens.
What am I ranting about however? I’m gonna be in a completely different stadium anyways on Sunday! Galway and Ireland to win. And more double headers for me to lose hair over in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment