Jack O'Connor's ColumnGalway's hurlers and footballers need to find the heart and stomach for battle

There will be two stewards' inquiries in Galway this week: one for the hurlers and one for the footballers. The only consolation is that they are inquiries and not post-mortems.

Both teams are still alive but will have to be prepared for a week when there will be more talking done than training. Tough talking too.

Both sides were outfought at the weekend and that's the biggest sin.

People might have thought Ger Loughnane was losing the plot during the week with his familiar brand of straight talking.

He knew what he was doing; by raising the temperature to boiling point in Ennis he put himself in a position to discover at what precise temperature his team would melt.

Having turned the heat up he must have been pretty disappointed with the results. Still, it's best to find out a team has a heart problem when there is still a chance of surgery and rehabilitation.

Any other manager would have spent last week praising all and sundry in Clare and trying to buy himself a bit of goodwill. Ger took the high-wire approach and at least now he knows the worst. Ger doesn't do comfort zones. If he did he'd still be in the TV studio telling other managers how to do it all.

With his own legacy he took a huge risk coming back into the game, and he will have left the narrow confines of Cusack Park on Saturday a wiser man. Now by threatening to walk if he doesn't get a huge response from his players this week, Loughnane has thrown down the gauntlet to his players again. Great drama.

Peter Ford finds himself in a similar position this week but will adopt a different approach. The Galway footballers have reached a crossroads and must make up their minds whether they have the stomach to keep going or would prefer to double back and just go home.

They may have thought they won the Connacht final a few weeks ago when they played Mayo and decided to coast for a while.

It is always a problem for heavily favoured teams to lift it against counties they are expected to beat, and if the attitude isn't right the playing field is levelled.

There is no question about Galway's skills in either football or hurling. The footballers, the forwards especially, are loaded with talent.

That leaves a huge question about their stomach for battle, especially when you look back at how they were outfought by Westmeath in Salthill last year.

The weekend was not just an aberration for Galway's teams. Contrast them with Clare's hard work in hurling or, more pointedly, with Sligo's approach on Sunday.

For Sligo attitude was altitude. They didn't borrow their game plan from the Kieran Donaghy stylebook but held on to the ball, worked like dogs and never felt sorry for themselves.

They had their excuse to fold when they lost Eamonn O'Hara or when they missed those two 21-yard frees.

Ferocious fitness, great work ethic and a style designed to frustrate the opposition and get the ball to a fella who could kick it over the bar did the trick. They lived with the golfing mantra of staying in the moment and playing the game a shot at a time.

Whatever sports psychologist they are using, he or she earned a bonus at the weekend.

What is interesting about the situation in Galway and perhaps in Laois approaching this weekend is watching players who had serious underage success struggling to cope at senior level.

In counties like Kilkenny and Kerry underage success doesn't make you a celebrity or even a guaranteed senior player.

The young hurlers of Galway and the footballers of Laois have grown up winning plenty. Eight of Galway's starting team against Sligo on Sunday, and all four subs they brought in, have All-Ireland under-21 medals.

I can remember Michael Meehan costing us a Hogan Cup five years ago when St Jarlath's beat Coláiste na Sceilge. I tipped him for greatness at that time. He has shown flashes but his senior inter-county career hasn't taken off.

Himself and Seán Armstrong were an incredible twin strike-force at under-21, scoring six goals between them in the final a couple of years ago. They looked set to be the next Clarke and McDonnell combination or even the new Stockwell and Purcell. They have the highest profile of those players who did it at underage but aren't delivering yet at senior.

On all known form and pedigree Galway should have been beating Sligo on Sunday and should have beaten Westmeath last year. They seem to be afflicted with a bit of an attitude problem.

The Galway forwards in particular don't seem to realise they have to win the battle before their more refined skills become relevant.

For Peter Ford this must be especially disappointing. Going back playing a team you formerly managed is always hard, but you expect your players to lift it for you in those circumstances. On Sunday Ford got none of the passion he asked for.

Perhaps in certain counties underage success and the expectation that goes with it are the enemies of promise.

Loughnane has thrown down the challenge to his bright young things.

Peter Ford has the right to demand more too.