'If we don’t take advantage of it, we’ll regret it' - Galway focus after beating Dublin
A FAMOUS WIN over Dublin, but knocking the All-Ireland champions out won’t count for much if Galway don’t drive on from here.
Tribe star John Maher says they must build on their stunning quarter-final win over the Dubs in Croke Park.
They have since been pitted against Donegal in the last four — with Kerry and Armagh doing battle on the other side in two weeks’ time — so it’s straight back to the drawing board.
“It doesn’t even start with the next game, it starts with training on Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever Pádraic [Joyce] says it is,” Maher said after the 0-17 to 0-16 victory on Saturday evening.
“This will be forgotten about fairly quickly. It’ll be a good day out but if we don’t take advantage of it from now we’ll regret it.”
Playing the All-Ireland champions was “just another game,” he said, but it was Galway’s third in 14 days as they were forced down the preliminary quarter-final route.
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“Looking at the start of the season, you wouldn’t like to play three games in 14 days but we accepted it early once we knew that was our route, and there’s benefits to it as well. The group gets awful close together.
“We got a good win in tough conditions against Monaghan, we were all sharp. We’re all dialled in every week. I thought we moved on to the next game, mentally moved on, I think that’s the big challenge week on week and we did that well so look, at the start of the year we wouldn’t have looked forward to three games in 14 days but it ended up working in our favour.”
Maher was given the task of marking midfield maestro Brian Fenton at HQ. He was told early in the week, and ultimately, came out on top after another towering display for his county.
“I had to do my homework. He’s a great player so it was a new challenge and something I was looking forward to all week. Marked him in the league, knew how good of a player he was. Very strong player. All he needs is a few yards to get a score. I knew I had my work cut out but got familiar in the league.
“He kicked a score but happy enough with how everything went.”
Maher in action against Fenton.
While Fenton was in his opposite corner, Maher was working in tandem with another superb, experienced player in Paul Conroy. Their link-up play was striking.
“He’s that calm voice beside you. He’s always there, he always comes in behind for a handy pass and he makes it look better because he’s probably one of the best kickers in the country. Nothing wrong with giving the ball to Paul and letting him do his thing.”
Maher does his too. The Salthill Knocknacarra man was on and off the Galway panel from 2018 to 2020. He made his debut in the league in ’20, but missed the ’22 All-Ireland final as he went travelling for a year, spending a stint in the USA.
Maher’s form has steadily improved upon his return — getting his first taste of senior inter-county championship football in ’23 — while he has been particularly excellent this season. What does he put it down to?
“I suppose building routines over the last few years, just getting familiar with everything, getting familiar with what works for me, getting my body and mind in the right place before every game and always trying to refine that.
“This is all new to me, getting big Championship wins in Croke Park but the lads have been there before, they’ve had a few big wins in recent years so it’s just adding to that experience.”
Time now to drive on against Donegal.
- With reporting from Fintan O’Toole.