If Galway sold golden tickets, they would be available for this Sunday’s double header – an All-Ireland football final in the afternoon and a trip home for The Saw Doctors’ evening gig in Fisheries Field.
Leo Moran, founding member of the band, can’t bring himself to imagine a Galway win.
“For all the emotion pertaining to an All-Ireland final and all the cultural significance, it’s basically a brutally ruthless game of football,” he says. “One team will do a small percentage of things more right than the other team and that’ll be it.”
In 1998, alongside former bandmate Padraig Stevens, Moran penned Maroon & White, a song chronicling the dream of lining up in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day. It could be in line for a special rendition on Sunday night.
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“It’s amazing when the song completely fits the occasion of the evening,” Moran says. “It’s brilliant when you stumble upon that kind of thing. We’re very lucky. It’d be something else if it happened again, but you never know.”
Killanin’s Gary Fahey was the last Galway man to lift the Sam Maguire, captaining the 2001 side that beat Meath 0-17 to 0-08.
“You can sense the atmosphere in Killanin now,” Fahey says. “The bunting in Moycullen. You can sense it building nicely. You don’t want to get too carried away either. There’s a nice balance of things.”
There is quiet optimism among Galway supporters with Kerry and Dublin out of the running, though Fahey notes that Armagh fans will be “having the exact same feeling”. He anticipates a tight game that could be decided by big players, while crediting a deep Galway panel for their performances all season.
“Shane Walsh, Damien Comer and [Robert] Finnerty,” Fahey says. “If all the forwards could really fire, I think that’s where hopefully it will happen . . . I’m hoping they can fire like they were firing two years ago [against Armagh].”
Finnerty will start at corner-forward on Sunday – he is Galway’s top scorer this season with 1-33. His father Anthony is something of a Galway convert, having represented Mayo in both the 1989 and 1996 All-Ireland finals.
“I’m no different to any parent,” he says. “We’re fierce proud of all the lads. It’s a huge day and when your young lad is playing, you are kicking every ball and you’re hoping things go well for him.”
In Ballinasloe there has been a local campaign to ensure tradition is upheld and the Galway team stop in town on their way home. Joe Kelly is one of the fans guaranteeing that outcome. He describes football as a religion in his home.
“It’s unbelievable what the people of Ballinasloe, east Galway and south Roscommon done here in this town,” Kelly says. “Thousands and thousands of flags up all over the place. Thousands of metres of bunting all over the place. It’s just unbelievable.”
As the flags and the song go – maroon and white of Galway, forever and a day.
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