No complacency in Galway quarters ahead of joust against the Rossies
Barry Cullinane ships a challenge from Seamus O'Neill during the 2008 Connacht Senior Football Championship quarter-final between the sides. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
Ahead of this Sunday’s eagerly-anticipated Connacht semi-final, former Galway midfielder Barry Cullinane feels that the rivalry between his native county and Roscommon is different to most.
Cullinane admits that the Galway and Mayo rivalry can whip fans into a frenzy while he contends that the rivalry between this Sunday’s foes is more respectful. He jokes that this may be because Galway and Roscommon have common ground in their rivalries with Mayo.
“For me, there was always a difference in the rivalry between Galway/Roscommon and Galway/Mayo. I think there is more banter between the two sets of supporters while maybe with the Galway/Mayo rivalry, we can get a bit too caught up in it at times.
“With Galway and Roscommon, there is a big rivalry but there is also a mutual respect. Maybe it is because we both dislike Mayo. I don’t know, maybe that’s the common ground that we find.
“Galway football is littered with games against Roscommon where we would have been expected to win but Roscommon turned us over. I don’t think anyone will go into this one anyways complacent,” he noted.
Although Galway took care of business against New York, there are question marks hanging over the Nestor Cup holders after going without a win in their final three league games. Cullinane believes that John Maher will be key to answering those questions. The Salthill/Knocknacarra man limped off with an ankle injury against New York, and the former Galway midfielder believes that his fitness is vital for this clash.
“John Maher going off early doors was a real concern. If he is out, it isn't really calculable how much of a loss he is. Since he has returned to the Galway panel, he has brought his game through the roof. He has everything you want in a modern midfielder.
“He can field, his energy levels are through the roof and his enthusiasm for hard work is infectious. When he does something, the crowd really loves it and that is a big bonus as well. If he gets a turnover or a block it lifts the crowd and that in turn lifts the players. From what I can see what he has brought to his game over the past 12 months, that wasn’t there previously, is that he is a real scoring threat as well.
“For me at the minute, the two biggest losses Galway could have would be Seán Kelly and John Maher. Thankfully Seán is in rude health but if John is out, it is a big loss,” the former All-Ireland winning U-21 footballer and hurler stated.
Cullinane believes that even though it may be too early for Peter Cooke to feature following his return to the panel, the expectation is that the home side will prevail if they have a full deck to choose from.
“Whatever the perceived favourites for the game, Roscommon will be really expecting to have a right cut at Galway and Davy Burke will expect Roscommon to bring energy to it.
“Up front Roscommon are dangerous. Ben O’Carroll is a fine footballer and the Murtaghs are dangerous, but I think Padraic (Joyce) will feel Galway can get at Roscommon defensively.
“I watched the Monaghan/Roscommon league final, and I thought they (Roscommon) were porous enough at times. They conceded 1-19 to Westmeath, which isn’t a great defensive performance.
“On the other side of thatm he (Joyce) will be coming up with a plan. Roscommon haven’t hit an awful lot of two-pointers. I think in that Westmeath game they didn’t hit one and Diarmuid Murtagh got their only one against Monaghan.
“Defensively, he might be saying we can drop a little bit because they don’t seem to have it in their armoury to kick a lot of two-pointers. Offensively, if we can get at Roscommon early, we could create chances, but we have to up our conversion rate from the last few games. Overall, I would be going for Galway to win by six, with three two-pointers the difference,” he concluded.
