After coming up just short in last year's final, Galway are out of the 2023 All-Ireland football championship before we've even reached the quarter-final stage.
The Tribesmen came up short by just one point on home soil against arch-rivals Mayo in a nail-biting preliminary quarter-final on Sunday afternoon, and are left to reflect on how they ended up in this game in the first place.
Having won the Connacht championship with relative ease, Galway entered the final weekend of the round robin with a perfect record - before an unexpected loss to Armagh placed them in the preliminary quarter-finals.
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Galway only have themselves to blame for ending up down this route, and were made to pay by a clinical Mayo side in the second half on Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday evening, the RTÉ panel dissected the action from Salthill, and Tyrone legend Sean Cavanagh questioned whether Galway had been let down by the form of talisman Shane Walsh in 2023.
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Galway v Mayo: Sean Cavanagh questions Shane Walsh after underwhelming performance
Shane Walsh was instrumental in Galway's march to the All-Ireland final in 2022, scoring an immense 1-27 in the run to the final. He then went on to put in one of the all-time great performances on a losing team in the final against Kerry, scoring 0-9 as Galway came up just short.
His 2023 season, by comparison, has not been as spectacular. Despite playing more games with the new round-robin format, Walsh had scored 0-19 before Sunday's blockbuster clash, and it was his miss from a free in the dying seconds of Galway's defeat to Armagh which sealed their fate and resigned them to the preliminary quarter-finals.
25 June 2023; Eoghan McLaughlin of Mayo, 23, stops the ball on the line and sends it for a 45 during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Preliminary Quarter Final match between Galway and Mayo at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Against Mayo, Galway were not clinical in the second-half. Having gone in at the break five points up, Galway saw Mayo race away in the second period, with Mayo's shot conversion of 56% dwarfing Galway's 39%.
Galway certainly missed the influence of Damien Comer, who was withdrawn after the interval, but they also missed anything from an anonymous Shane Walsh, who scored 0-4 but 0-0 from play, on another strangely off day for the corner forward.
Speaking on The Sunday Game after Galway's championship exit, Sean Cavanagh noted as much, saying that a forward like Walsh will know that his 2023 performances have not been good enough:
The reason Galway were in this mess was because Shane Walsh fluffed a free at the end of the Armagh game.
Now, he's an incredible player, one of my favourites in the game, but he hasn't been having a great season. There today again...a 24-metre free-kick, with the breeze at your back, tailing to the right - you can't do that in these big, big games. He'll know that and he'll be disappointed.
It is not the first time Shane Walsh's form has been criticised this season.
In the leadup to the game against Mayo, Walsh was questioned by Mayo legend Lee Keegan, who suggested that the Kilmacud Crokes man is not yet on the level of "elite" forwards like David Clifford and Con O'Callaghan.
Earlier in the championship summer, the RTÉ panel noted Galway manager Padraic Joyce's ruthlessness in taking Walsh off after half-time of the Connacht final, after an underwhelming performance against Sligo.
Galway and Shane Walsh are left to lick their wounds, while Mayo progress to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. They will meet Dublin, in a mouth-watering renewal of a great modern rivalry, after the draw was made on Monday morning.
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