Big reality check for disappointing hurlers

Kilkenny 1-19Galway 1-12

STEPHEN GLENNON

IT was not so much the result, as the performance – or lack of – that was disappointing from a Galway perspective. What’s more, had the Tribesmen played anywhere near their potential, they possibly could have deprived the out-of-sorts reigning Leinster champions, Kilkenny of their sixth consecutive provincial crown … and won for their county an historic first. That’s the killer.

In all, 31,376 patrons turned up at Croke Park on Sunday in expectation of a thriller but, in the end, they had to settle for a lacklustre Leinster senior hurling decider. Not that followers of the black and amber will mind! Their side claimed the spoils without having to scale any great heights – their wides total of 17 underlining just how much out of sorts the Cats really were at times – and their relentless march towards the unprecedented five-in-a-row of All-Ireland titles continues.

As for Galway, it would appear a third championship game in a fortnight was more of a hindrance than a help heading into the county’s first ever Leinster decider. For John McIntyre’s side lacked spark, creativity and intensity and as the game progressed the inches they were losing to their Kilkenny counterparts began to grow to feet. Indeed, by the time the final whistle sounded, that was what they were out on … their feet!

If one was to clinically assess the Galway display, measuring it up to last year’s encouraging Leinster semi-final joust with the same opposition, it could be argued that the Tribesmen have not progressed, but instead regressed. For on that previous occasion, Galway had the Cats on the rack for long periods but, on Sunday, the only torture implement Brian Cody’s men were subjected to was the feather.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.