Absence of a host of Galway’s big names diminishe the double-bill at Pearse Park but league has never looked more like a secondary competition
Absence of a host of Galway’s big names diminished the double-bill at Pearse Stadium but league has never looked more like a secondary competitionI was walking down the prom in Salthill at around 12.30 last Saturday, gazing out at Galway Bay across to Clare as the grey perma-clouds scooted overhead, and thinking that this is a pretty picturesque walk to a GAA match. Nowlan Park and Thurles are nice grounds, but they don’t have the Atlantic Ocean at their doorstep.
I was also there because in the midst of kids, jobs, hurling training and soccer games, the only thing guaranteed to get my three brothers, my cousin and me in the same place at the same time was always going to be a GAA game . The games themselves were of a piece with what we’ve seen this spring. The Galway hurlers were ambling in front until Limerick had Shane O’Brien sent off 25 minutes in. The stand roared briefly into life, and as the second half progressed, with Galway failing utterly to build on a half-time lead despite their extra man, it became a thing unto itself.
It was at this juncture that we decided we’d break out the sandwiches we’d brought with us, a move which spoke even more eloquently of our descent into middle-age than the original purpose of our coming together. The alternative, we’d convinced ourselves, was a visit to the Supermacs van over to our left, which couldn’t have had a bigger crowd of Gaels surrounding it all day if David Clifford had been behind the counter.
Paul Conroy, David Burke and Conor Cooney might make such a top 10, but so too could Conor Whelan, Daithí Burke, Damien Comer, Shane Walsh, Sean Kelly, Cillian McDaid, Matthew Tierney . . . all absent through injury or suspension. Salthill is always a problem if you’re leaving directly afterwards. If you’re hanging around for the evening, it’s a rather different story. After a stroll into town, with a few pit stops, we passed the rest of our evening picking, and then repicking the Galway senior football team, and taking our hats off to the mere notion that the five of us could be as happy and contented as we are, as our beloved leader moves into his sixth decade.
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