Galway's fall from gaelic football grace has taken John O'Mahony by surprise.

The two-time All-Ireland winning manager can't put his finger on what has gone wrong with Alan Mulholland's charges in the current Division 2 campaign.

"It's the nature of some of the defeats that's most surprising," he said to the Irish Independent.

"You wouldn't expect that from Galway. Of course, when things start going against a county and they experience a few heavy defeats or maybe defeats against counties they would normally expect to beat, it can be very deflating. The last five or six years have taken their toll on Galway."

He continued: "It's hard to understand. Mayo used to be accused over the years of having good underage teams that didn't make it as seniors, but now that's what appears to be happening in Galway.

"Still, you wouldn't expect Galway to be in danger of slipping into Division 3. When the draw for this year's Connacht championship was made, the general view was that it would be a Mayo-Galway final in Castlebar and that if Mayo were to be ambushed, it was most likely to happen there.

"Now, you'd have to think that if Mayo are to be ambushed in Connacht, it's most likely to be by Roscommon.

"I have always held the view - and a lot of other people around the country would agree - that Galway are capable of coming from nowhere, getting a run going and improving all the time.

"That could happen again, but it's not easy to see it in the short term. Galway slipping back is not good for football and is certainly not good for Connacht football. Mayo would be a lot better off if they had Galway putting them to the pin of their collar just as they were doing when Galway were going really well."

The Fine Gael TD agrees that Michael Meehan's injury woes hasn't helped Galway's cause.

"Everyone hopes he will because he is such a talent. A fully-fit Michael Meehan would have made a huge difference to Galway.

"One man doesn't make a team, but when you're without a really top forward like him you're going to notice it. Having said that, you would expect Galway to be doing better without him." Tweet

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