O’Donnell optimistic but Galway ‘have nothing won yet’

Former Galway defender Gary O’Donnell is confident his old-team-mates won’t have gotten carried away from knocking holders Dublin out as they prepare for an All-Ireland SFC semi-final.

Mayo dethroned the then six-in-a-row champions in the semis in 2021 but went on to lose the final against Tyrone. Despite a superb quarter-final win over the champions, Galway are only into the last four, where they face Donegal on Sunday (Live on RTÉ2/RTÉ Player).

“It can be a different prospect mentally where you take out a big gun like that and you’re still a game or two games away from the prize,” the 2016 Connacht-winning captain told RTÉ Sport.

“Galway celebrated that victory and rightly so. But you can be sure, come Tuesday or Wednesday of that week, it was parked and the whole focus is on the All-Ireland semi-final. They’ve nothing won yet and I’m sure that will be the ethos of it.

“I’d say a lot of people will say that it’s a 50-50 game. I gave Galway a great chance going into the Dublin game. I was fairly confident that it would go down the home straight, which it did. It’ll be the same thing on Sunday.

“Galway are very structured in defence and attack. Donegal are organised at the back but hit you on the counter. They’ve a lot of legs, a lot of runners, a lot of pace.

“I expect both teams to put on a good show. I think it will be somewhat high-scoring based on what you’ve seen off previous games, and a bit of an arm wrestle up to the last quarter where one team will probably push on ahead of the other, and see it home. Hopefully, that’ll be Galway.”

Galway have been plagued with injuries this season, with key men Shane Walsh and Seán Kelly both doubts this weekend after going off injured against Dublin.

They flirted with relegation in the Allianz Football League and needed a late goal to get past Sligo in the Connacht semi-finals but have gone from strength to strength since.

“The league campaign was a struggle and I think that’s been well highlighted,” said O’Donnell. “But if you look back now, it’s been a big positive in the sense that a lot of fringe players and young players have been blooded.

“They managed to maintain Division 1 status, and since then, they’ve kicked on. They had that scare against Sligo which probably galvanised the team.

“Since, they’ve managed games quite well even with injuries, trailing teams going into injury time and managing to pick up big results. They’re undefeated to now which is something they’ll take huge confidence in as well.

“Their bench the last day was superb. The five subs they had all contributed to the game. Huge impact on the game from Céin Darcy, Cian Hernon at the back, Johnny Heaney kicked a point, Liam Ó Conghaile worked really hard up front. It’ll be the same on Sunday, they’ll need the four or five subs coming in to make the impact and get them over the line.”

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O’Donnell was in his second-last season with the Tribesmen when McGuinness took charge for a night at training. Though he doesn’t expect that to give Donegal an edge this weekend.

“It was superb,” he said of the 2020 session. “It was a great insight into the way he thought about the game, the way he coached and trained teams, what he expected from players and so on. It was very demanding, physically and mentally, and pushing you to the pin of your collar.

“But it was only a two-hour training session and I think there have been a lot of players that have left the panel since then too. So, I’m not sure if Jim got much of an insight into the Galway set-up either.

“He’s someone from afar that I’ve taken a great interest in from the time he took over Donegal a decade ago. For Donegal, he’s a spiritual leader in many a sense and what he says is gospel up there and rightly so.

“Most coaches are doing things similarly. A lot of it is small inches and margins that make the difference. Jim is similar to Pádraic [Joyce] with the confidence he exudes into a room. You’d do anything for them.”

Few of the Galway panel will have clear memories of the county’s last All-Ireland triumph in 2001, when the recently deceased John O’Mahony was in charge.

“I’d say quite a lot of them were hardly born,” said O’Donnell. “But at the same time, you’re reared on these stories in Galway football. Pádraic was at the forefront of that era. John O’Mahony was the manager and you have A Year Til Sunday [documentary]. You have all the tales and it’s a huge part of people’s upbringing, particularly in the last 30 years.

“The feeling around Galway is that people are feeling confident. Not overly confident but you’d have to be. After the campaign they’ve had, they’re undefeated and have beaten Dublin for the first time in 90 years.

“You’re going into this game with a quiet optimism. You’re meeting people on the street and they’re talking about Galway football and if you’re going to the game. It’s a great feeling around the place.”

Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship semi-finals, Armagh v Kerry (5.30pm on Saturday on RTÉ2) and Donegal v Galway (4pm on Sunday on RTÉ2). Both games available on RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1

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