Damien Comer believes that Galway can go the distance this year after beefing up their squad this spring.
Tribe boss Padraic Joyce has fielded 33 players over the course of the League campaign as Galway reached Sunday’s final against Mayo, bidding for a first title in 42 years.
Despite getting to last year’s All-Ireland final, Galway’s staying power was seen as an Achilles heel as they allowed Mayo, Roscommon and Armagh back into games that they were seemingly comfortable in, while Kerry finished stronger in that final, kicking the last four points after the sides had been level coming down the stretch.
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There were further signs of that in the early League games this year too as Mayo came back to snatch a draw at the death while Roscommon also hit the last four scores without reply to beat them by a point, but Galway haven’t lost since.
Comer said: “Overall the League campaign has been very positive with some good wins. The last two were maybe the most impressive, up in Armagh is always a hard one and then Kerry last weekend so we have been steadily improving and we have had a chance to look into our squad as well.
“The injuries, when they happen, are unfortunate but it gives you a chance to look at your squad and the lads have come in have done brilliantly well.
“It’s probably an area where we would have fallen down and took a bit of stick for last year in the final not having enough lads to come in and change the game.
“Fair play to management, they have really gotten that under control this year, lads have put their hands up. It’s great.”
He added: “Last year we nearly had a very fixed team during the League and players were coming on for the last five or 10 minutes, whereas this year - whether it's through injury or form - the new lads have gotten 70 minutes in different games and some of them have got that in two or three games.
“That stands to you, playing high-pressure Division One football, high-paced games, big crowds. You can't get used to that from five minutes at the end of the game.”
Comer believes that the lack of firepower off the bench, coupled with Kerry’s greater experience, was their ultimate undoing last July.
“Kerry are used to playing in (big games), between being in Division One League finals, being in the business end of the Championship.
“Like we got to our first [All-Ireland] semi-final in 2018, and another semi-final last year and getting to those stages was once every while, it wasn’t happening enough and then before that it was a long time.
“Kerry had squad members with All-Ireland medals. They probably had the experience coming down the last (few minutes). You’d see it with Dublin, it was that experience and they had firepower on the bench that could change the game as well.
“It was probably a mixture of the two. It’s something definitely that we’ve looked at and management have looked at this year.”
Comer’s season is getting back on track after picking up what looked to be a serious knee injury in the Roscommon game in February, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as was first feared with the dreaded cruciate quickly ruled out.
“I thought I was a goner to be honest,” he admitted. “I didn’t really know what I had done.
“I had never hurt my knee before but it was excruciating pain and I thought there had to be some damage of a serious extent.
“In fairness, the pain settled fairly quickly once I got into the dressing room and there was no real swelling started to show so that probably was a positive sign there.
“And the scan results came back and it was just bad bone bruising, it was very tender around the two bones, I was lucky I didn’t fracture them but the ligaments were a bit stretched but thankfully no serious damage.”
He made his reappearance off the bench against Kerry last Sunday and is in the shake-up for Sunday’s League final against Mayo.
“I got a good few sessions done before last weekend, joined in collective training and stuff. The mechanism of the injury, when I went to Santry there was no real fear I was going to do any further damage unless you suffer the same kind of injury again. So it wasn’t a risk or anything going back on the pitch. Just happy to be back.”
The fact that Galway haven’t won the League outright since 1981 is something that has been addressed internally in the run-up to Sunday’s final.
“It’s something you’ll always hear about around Galway,” said Comer. “I suppose it’s time we closed that gap or tried to change that.
“I suppose when we talk about All-Irelands, our management team – the boys have All-Ireland medals but they don’t have a League medal, and they’ve mentioned that too.
“It is a Division One title, a national title, and we’ll be hoping to go out and put in a performance to try and win it. But they are not easily won as you can see from the 42-year absence.”
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