GALWAY ace Céin D’Arcy insists it was a point dropped against Tyrone – but hailed their resolve to snatch a draw.
Shane Walsh’s dramatic two-point free from outside the arc rescued a point at the death against the Red Hands on Sunday.
D’Arcy came on at half time and kicked a point, and says draws always feel like an opportunity lost.
But Galway are still the only unbeaten team in the Division and are top on eight points.
The hosts stunned Malachy O’Rourke’s men at the death when they were penalised for not having three players in the Galway half, which led to Walsh’s booming score.
And D’Arcy hailed their resolve to dodge defeat in a chaotic finish.
He said: “It’s hard to contextualise it. It’s always a point lost when you draw, in the grand scheme of things.
“We knew we were up against it with them coming down here, they’re fighting relegation and needing points.
“It’s never an easy game playing Tyrone in general. We always seem to be playing them down here in Tuam.
“It’s a point lost from my perspective anyway. We’d always be looking for 10 out of 10 at this stage in the league, but eight isn’t too bad.
“It’s good and that’s going to stand to us as well coming down the line, getting that effort in chasing the game. We are used to picking up big leads like last week, it was a different kind of dynamic playing Donegal.
“It was good to get both sides of the coin. Tyrone are fighting ferociously for their position in Division 1. There’s a risk there that we take our foot off the pedal, but I don’t think we did.
“I think we stood up and we got some valuable game time into the legs of a few fellas out there.
“It was chaotic. That was emphasised by Tyrone giving away the three-up free.
“When you get into the heat of battle and you’re just focused on protecting your goal, as they were, those mistakes can crop up when it gets that bit chaotic.”
But D’Arcy hailed their unbeaten run as the NFL takes a two week break, and hopes they can keep it going for their crunch round 5 clash with Dublin at Croke Park on March 15.
He said: “I think it’s very important. You can’t underestimate how important it is to foster a winning culture within a group or that being tough to beat, and that’s what we are at the moment.
“Maybe it’s a dynamic that Galway haven’t had historically, but I think this squad is really building that.
“That’s what we’re looking at from our subs, our game changers. We’re looking for them to come in and have a big impact.
“We’re blessed as well in terms of our management of players not to have picked up any injuries in that time.
“We can push on now and really put our shoulder to the wheel for the last two weeks and make a push for the end of the league.”
