Galway surprised favourites Mayo in Castlebar in the Eirgrid U21 Championship on Saturday evening. Centre forward Damien Comer was influential in their success scoring 1-5 out of their tally of 1-12. However, this was racked up before he was black carded late on for bringing down Adam Gallagher.
Then the following day, he received two yellows and a red as Galway capitulated in the second half of their League encounter against Laois.
Is he the first man to receive a black card and red card in successive days? We can't be sure about this but it can't have happened too often.
Comer feels the cards were a bit harsh but he isn't inclined to dwell on them as he prepares for the Connacht U21 final with Roscommon in the first week of April.
Galway have a curious record at U21 level. Since 2002, they have only won four Connacht titles at this grade.
However, from this modest tally, they have mined four All-Irelands. Typical of this sequence has been their record in the past two years. After winning the All-Ireland in 2013, they bombed out in the first round in 2014 after losing to Leitrim.
Comer, who played on the All-Ireland winning side of 2013 and again last year, told us they are better tuned in for this year.
I was iffy about last year because of the injuries and everything and because it was Leitrim, lads didn't take it as they should have taken it but when you're coming up against Mayo you know it's going to be a tough game. I just had a good feeling about it. We had seen them play and they hadn't seen us play so it was nearly 1-0 to us.
Roscommon have a formidable U21 side and slaughtered Sligo in the Connacht semi-final.
We met them in the Hastings Cup allright. They gave us a bit of a hammering though I don't know how much you can read into that. They are a quality side. All-Ireland finalists last year and Connacht finalists of the year before. We were lucky enough to overcome them in 2013. We'll definitely look forward to the battle and we know we're up against it, we'll probably be underdogs again.
Comer says the Galway All-Ireland winning class of 2013 will prove more fruitful than the class of 2011.
I think there is more players developing onto the senior panel from 2013 than the 2011 team. There's always talk of 'oh, where are these U21 players gone, why aren't they developing onto the senior team?'
It's just another step-up though. I think it's important to have that U21 step, because minor to senior is massive so U21 is another physicality step. It's just that stepping stone for senior.
Provincial finals:
Connacht Final
Roscommon v Galway, 4 April
Leinster Final
Dublin v Kildare, 2 April
Munster Final
Tipperary v Cork, 9 April
Ulster Semi-Finals
Tyrone v Armagh, 1 April
Donegal v Monaghan, 1 April
