Farragher demands big improvement against Offaly

Galway midfielder Ger Farragher has warned that the Tribesmen will be knocked out of the Leinster Championship by Offaly if they fail to improve vastly on their performance in the quarter-final defeat of Wexford.

Galway opened their Leinster campaign with a 2-22 to 1-14 win over Wexford but Farragher, who scored 13 points in the game, says they failed to reproduce the form they showed in the league final defeat of Cork and will be facing the prospect of the All-Ireland qualifiers if they do not up their game.

"We knew that we didn't produce half the form that we produced against Cork in the league final. We knew it was going to be tough and it was, but we are just happy with the result at the end of the day," said Farragher, who was named GPA Player of the Month for May.

"Our games against Offaly are always close. Offaly don't fear Galway and I know that for a fact from down through the years, neighbouring counties. We know it is going to be tough playing them and if we don't play at a lot better than we did against Wexford the last day, we will get beaten."

Inconsistency has stalked the Tribesmen in recent years and Farragher is wary that they could have been looking at a Leinster Championship quarter-final exit had their goalkeeper, Colm Callanan, not made an incredible save to deny Wexford's Rory Jacob at a time when the game was in the balance.

"It is something we have to rectify. Colm (Callanan, the Galway goalkeeper) made a serious save - I don't think any other goal in the country would have saved it, he shouldn't have saved it - and I think that spurred us on to get our act together," Farragher added.

"Kevin Hynes came on and we got the goal and it kind of broke their hearts and we drove on from there."

Farragher hit 11 points from placed balls against Wexford, but Galway lacked a killer instinct and hit 11 wides in the first half alone when they could have had the game wrapped up at half-time.

However, Castlegar clubman Farragher insists Galway are not overly worried by the missed opportunities.

"I think I hit six or seven wides myself and I would be more worried if I wasn't getting the chances than if the game was just bypassing me. On another day they would go over and it's probably better off they didn't go over the last day because some lads might be getting carried away.

"We know that we have a lot of work to do from the last day and we have three weeks to do it and we hopefully will be a lot different against Offaly the last day."

Meanwhile, Farragher believes that Galway gained valuable experience from the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Waterford last year.

The Tribesmen led by six points with ten minutes to go against the Deise before throwing away the game and losing by a point in the cruellest circumstances imaginable.

"I think we are more experienced. We have learned from last year, say from the defeat to Waterford. We know what it takes now, we know what it's like to lose in the Championship.

"It wasn't a nice feeling getting beaten by Kilkenny and hopefully we will learn from that mistake."