The last face-off between Dublin and Galway in the All-Ireland series occurred six years ago in the semi-finals, marking their first encounter in the championship since the infamous 1983 finale which ended in a victory for Dublin’s ’12 Apostles’, despite four players being eliminated. This fixture represents a long history of underperformance for Galway; they’ve only emerged victorious twice in the intervening 40 years, out of 20 matches played in total for both league and championship.
These rare wins occurred consecutively in the national league of 2009 and 2010. Seán Armstrong, who contributed 1-2 in the first of these matches and also participated in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-finals, states that while players generally relish playing against Dublin, instances have been infrequent. During his 14 years playing for Galway, Armstrong recalls only competing against Dublin four times.
Armstrong describes playing in Dublin, amidst the fervour of a packed stadium, as a thrilling challenge, especially considering Dublin’s impressive track record over the past 15 years. However, he mentions that due to the scarce encounters, the notion of a rivalry or any form of ‘curse’ does not really hold.
Despite Galway securing the Connacht title 15 times and Dublin earning 27 Leinster titles since 1983, their match-ups in championship games have been few and far between, with the available data indicating an unbalanced series of outcomes.
Are these pairings merely a matter of chance, happening to occur mostly when Dublin fields a strong team? Brian Talty, who played for Galway, including during the infamous 1983 All-Ireland, but later resided in Dublin and even coached their minor to senior teams, offers a unique insight. He affirms Armstrong’s observation. His notable memories of their matches include the 1974 finals, ’76 semi-finals and the ’83 finals, all close games where Dublin came out as the stronger side.
Reflecting on our team’s mindset about the opponents, whether we actually believed we could triumph over them is a separate matter. Every time we faced them, they always appeared as top-notch contenders based on my experience.
Taking a trip down the memory lane to 1983, only four players from Dublin’s 1970s lineup were still on the team. Considering that pre-All-Ireland scenario, how did Talty’s troop perceive it? “Even then, our perspective of them was purely as Dublin. We had a nerve-wracking semi-final against Donegal, which we barely scraped through. Although Dublin had a significant victory in Cork, we managed to keep up our momentum in the final until certain events began to unfold. We entered the game thinking we possessed a fair chance of winning, thanks to a strong team. But we experienced a setback when that goal happened [Barney Rock’s lob over the goalkeeper from a free]. As I think back, we only suffered a defeat by a two-point margin and conceded a pointless goal.
Having additional players did not benefit us as well as we professional strategists would today. Unlike the present-day practices with individuals in the stands, calmly analysing situations and making informed decisions. Moreover, when a squad has three dismissals, it lightens the burden. With 12 players, no one will fault you for a loss. We weren’t geared up to have an extra one or two players and our playing style wasn’t even compatible with that.
Instead of making optimal use of the extra player, we blindly hit a lot of balls directly into opponent’s defence, consequently making Pat Canavan the standout player, as I often remind him. Tactically, Kevin Heffernan and his team drew everyone behind, leaving Joe McNally isolated upfront.
Last year, Galway had an undefeated league until the final when they had a close loss to Dublin. They managed to claim their first summer victory over Kerry since the 60s but ended up facing Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final due to their conclusive Super 8s defeat against Monaghan.
Recalling the eventful year of 2018, Armstrong states, “After a draw of 0-13 in the league with Dublin, we should have claimed the victory. Later that year in the All-Ireland semi-final, a notion kept bothering us that we should have triumphed in that previous game and shouldn’t be afraid of these lads.”
Throughout the game, they held ample opportunities to leave their mark. However, they repeatedly stumbled, with Stephen Cluxton saving a definitive goal and a penalty being squandered. Galway, unfortunately, couldn’t achieve a conversion rate above 50 per cent, whereas Dublin managed to exceed 70 per cent.
Brannigan’s penalty miss underscored a game riddled with disappointments, causing a shift in the dynamics that proved costly. Recalling walking off the pitch, he recalled feeling profoundly disappointed for their underwhelming performance. Nonetheless, he does not believe there are any lingering negative impressions to be dealt with.
This weekend marks nearly a decade since Galway’s championship victory over their rivals in the 1934 All-Ireland final. One wonders if this statistic will need an update come Saturday night. And if it remains unchanged, would that be the result of Dublin’s superiority, or simply an indication of status quo?