In any other year, Galway’s accomplished start to the league would be enough to trigger talk of a team on a mission, one fuelled by the hurt of losing last July’s All-Ireland SFC final.
But this isn’t any other year, this is year one in the reimagining of Gaelic football, and truth be told nobody can be certain where any team is at right now. Analysing form after two rounds of the league is a mug’s game, particularly this season.
Still, for now at least, the Galway footballers do sit on top of Division One with a 100 per cent winning start following victories over Armagh (1-12 to 0-9) and Mayo (0-26 to 0-16).
At the same stage last year the Tribesmen were still searching for their first victory, losing their 2024 league opener by eight points to Mayo before drawing with Roscommon.
They still finished the year contesting the All-Ireland final, but there is a key difference inside the Galway dressingroom from 12 months ago – more players are lacing their boots rather than hopping up on a physio’s treatment table.
Injuries have plagued Pádraic Joyce’s side in recent years. For that opening league game against Mayo last season, influential players including Seán Kelly, Damien Comer, Liam Silke and Cillian McDaid were all injured. Shane Walsh didn’t play against Roscommon. But apart from Comer, the others have all featured in this year’s league already.
“They’re really important players for us, Seán obviously is our captain and he’s had a hard couple of years with injuries,” says Paul Conroy.
“Even just for themselves, mentally, it’s very difficult when you’re picking up small injuries and you can’t train properly. You’re at 50 per cent and you’re going out there and maybe not performing to the level that you should be.
“People in the stand don’t know that you’re half-injured so I’m just happy for the lads that they’re back. Hopefully they can keep going now and stay injury-free because we’ve had a tough couple of years with injuries.”
The expectation is that Comer will return to action later in the league campaign.
Given the ongoing experimentation with the rules and the resulting uncertainty it brings, most squads will simply hope to emerge from the league having avoided both relegation and long-term injuries.
But it seems Galway wouldn’t mind picking up a league title along the way, too, if possible. The Tribesmen haven’t managed that feat since 1981.
“Pádraic just said it a couple of weeks ago, he’d be going for the league. Galway haven’t won one since the early 80s. He’d be fairly straight with his words, he’d like to win the league.
“Obviously within that you’re trying to blood new players and we have a lot of younger lads starting at the moment and getting game-time, which is really important for their development. But no, we’re going out to win every game, that’s where we’re at.”
At 35, last November Conroy was crowned Footballer of the Year – good things coming to a player who persevered. And the All Star midfielder says the accolade has helped instil some extra inner belief.
“Just in terms of your personal confidence, you probably would be able to back yourself a little more if you were getting nervous before a game,” he says.
“At the moment the way the game is with the new rules, I feel it suits me as a player. I like to kick the ball if I can and I don’t mind competing aerially in the middle. I’m just kind of enjoying football at the moment.”
Galway have certainly made use of the new scoring opportunities from outside the arc – they kicked seven two-pointers in the second half of last Sunday’s win over Mayo. In their victory over Armagh they registered three scores from outside the arc, including one kicked by Conroy.
“I think every team is the same, they’re just learning, coaches are learning, players are learning. It’s all so new for us, but it’s exciting,” he adds.
“I think it was our second league game last year where we drew nine all with Roscommon. Whereas this year there were over 40 scores in our game with Mayo.
“So, it’s definitely a lot better to watch and for me I think it’s very enjoyable to play.”
In particular, Conroy is pleased to see more kick-outs going towards the middle of the field.
“For a midfielder, I think that’s a big one. People like to see a contest and players like a contest as well.
“The ability to be able to take more shots is a big one too. Before, it was all about percentages and working it into zones and where you’d kick from, whereas now if you take a couple of two-pointers and they don’t go over, well, if you do get one or two of them you’re still coming up with four or six points out of maybe five shots.”
Conroy supports suggestions of increasing the number of subs permitted to six, but overall he believes Gaelic football is better now than it was 12 months ago.
“Personally, I prefer the game the way it is now at the moment. I think it’s enjoyable and I don’t have any massive issues with any of them [rule changes].
“You are always going to have rules that people aren’t happy with, you are never going to keep everybody happy. But I think at the moment there is a good product there.
“I think if you asked any player in the country now, I’d imagine there wouldn’t be too many that would say that they’d like to go back to the old rules.”
– Conroy was speaking at the announcement of a three-year partnership that will see Solgar become the official vitamin partner of the GAA and GPA.
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