Galway stay calm after torrid start to turn tie around

Date Published: {J}

CIARAN TIERNEY

IT was the lack of panic that most impressed, the way the Galway hurlers kept their composure and went about their business after everything seemed to go against them in the early stages.  

After Cork’s freak goal, their clever early deliveries into the full-forward line, and the missed chances at the other end, it would have been easy for theTribesmen to let the heads drop after a torrid opening spell at Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds.

Gradually, the Galway defenders got to grips with their opponents. Soon, too, David Burke and Andy Smith were winning out the midfield exchanges. And, as the game progressed, the movement and cohesion among the forwards was a joy to behold. The trauma of Tullamore, just three weeks earlier, had been consigned to distant memory in this All-Ireland qualifier.

It may not have felt it at the time, but this was a historic night for Galway hurling. This was first time the county had registered consecutive championship victories over the Rebels, even if the Munster men are in a transitional phase. No wonder so many Galway people stayed behind to stage a joyous pitch invasion in the splendid sunshine afterwards.

This performance was unrecognisable from the poor displays against Westmeath and Dublin in the Leinster championship. The players had shown hunger and desire against the Rebels, plus the kind of heart which many critics claimed was badly lacking after their tame surrender against the Dubs.

Now, with wins against Clare and Cork under their belts, the Tribesmen have a bit of momentum – and a lot more hope – as they head into a quarter-final showdown with Waterford (fixed for Thurles on Sunday week at 4pm). Afterwards there was no triumphalism in the Galway camp, only the simple satisfaction that comes with a job well done as they returned to the dressing-room.

“You’d have to say that the players applied themselves very well on the training ground,” said Galway selector John Moylan. “Where our performance came out of against Dublin, it is hard to visualise, but we were in a bad place after that. There are times when you lose that it’s a blessing in disguise and that you can turn things around. You have to go searching for answers. At the same time, I think it’s hard work that produced this Galway performance.

“I think our use of the ball was absolutely brilliant in terms of the way we applied ourselves. A ferocious work-rate, when you use the ball to your best advantage in terms of finding the man in the best position to put the ball over the bar. It’s a team game. Our forwards were absolutely brilliant. I thought David Burke and Andy Smith were phenomenal in the middle of the field and some of the scores they got were incredible.”

Moylan was delighted that the players were able to dig deep and turn things around after finding themselves 1-3 to no score down. They dealt with the short puck-outs, cut down the supply lines to the Cork full-forward line, and suddenly began to create, and convert, chances of their own.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.