I made a similar point to John to the one @GeoffreyBoycott made that the situation surrounding this yearâs Galway v Mayo clash was reminiscent of the situation surrounding the 1998 one, with Galway a team on the up and Mayo a team on the way down.
John politely disagreed. He really does talk like a politician but he seems like a nice man.
Arenât you the lad who has spent the last ten years telling us all about how youâre good friends with Ivan Yates and several racehorses?
They did, but that was a dying kick for that particular team, and was mainly due to that great 1990s cliche, hunger - Galway didnât score in the last half an hour of that match and didnât look particularly disappointed to lose. In truth the real window of opportunity for an All-Ireland had passed that Mayo team by by 1999 and they were put away quite comfortably by a very average Cork team in the semi-final.
Iâm glad that Sidney was able to save up a few bob and have a few pints in a pub with normal people as opposed to drinking cans of Tuborg at home alone.
I think that was his point. John doesnât believe that Galway are currently good enough to win an All-Ireland, particularly in terms of physicality and stamina, and felt they faded badly late on, particularly given that they had an extra player for the majority of the match, whereas the 1998 team proved to be at All-Ireland-winning level.
Personally I disagree with him and feel that while they probably wonât win it this year, they are now at a level where things are beginning to fall rapidly into place for them and they will not be too far away. An All-Ireland final is a realistic possibility for them for sure and if you get to a final youâre in with a chance. Dublin look to have slipped a bit and thereâs a possibility that a team could win an All-Ireland this year without having to beat them.
Even defensively, I thought they put in a very good backs to the wall performance when it was needed late on. There is bags of football ability throughout their team in all lines and theyâre building a good panel. Theyâve notched up some really good wins over the last year and while they tanked against Tipperary in the quarter-final last year, I think that will prove to be a valuable lesson for them going forward. They are definitely around the level Mayo were at circa 2011, possibly 2012.