Damien Comer knows this is only the start of it.
For the third year in a row Galway have defeated Mayo in Connacht, but according to talismanic full forward Damien Comer they’re desperate to make sure that isn’t as good as it gets.
It may have a dour affair in the Castlebar sun, but you’re kidding yourself if you think the Tribesmen give a damn about that as they march on to the Connacht semi-final with their dander up.
“No team wanted to lose it. It was a must win game for both teams and I’m glad that we came out on the right side of it,” said Comer to SportsJOE’s Colm Parkinson immediately after the game.
“It’s championship and both teams will do whatever it takes to win, if that’s sitting back and minding all angles, then that’s what it is.”
Apart from the conservative nature of the game, the main talking point was the sending off of Diarmuid O’Connor, which turned out to be a turning point, something Comer is man enough to admit.
He wasn’t going to say he didn’t see it, he wasn’t going to say it didn’t affect the game when it clearly did. That’s the type of man Damien Comer is.
“Mayo probably had to come with something different this time to break down our set-up, and it probably nearly worked only for the sending off in the first half. That’s two years in a row now they’ve been down to fourteen against us, so it probably doesn’t really give a true reflection on where both teams are at.
“It was unfortunate to Mayo, but we’ll take what we can get.”
And that talking point got Comer and his marker Chris Barrett talking as well.
“I remember, I seen it, I said to Chris Barrett beside me, ‘He could be in trouble for this, he’s led with the elbow.’ It was probably a bit accidental at the same time, but again, it was a dangerous challenge to charge with the elbow.
“Those were a few of the nicer words now, it’d be more of a war of words (most of the time).
Galway’s bullock in the number 14 jersey started off like a man possessed in MacHale Park, burning Barrett before curling a beauty between the posts, but from then on Barrett got tighter, and the balls in from his teammates became fewer and further between.
Damien Comer with a lovely point for Galway! pic.twitter.com/4CyUJfDM4i
— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 13, 2018
“In fairness to Barrett, he gave me every bit of it. We’d a good auld’ battle throughout the game.”
“When it slowed up a bit, Mayo were allowed to get one or two back and it cuts out the supply of the ball,” he said.
And now they’re marching on to a Connacht semi-final.
“All eyes are on the next game and hopefully we can bring that intensity to that,” he concluded.
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