Galway's new physical edge floors Rebels

Dara Bradley

GALWAY hurling badly needed this. After a winter of discontent where controversies in the club scene on the pitch and in the High Court and politicking on the Hurling Board took centre stage, finally the performance of the men in maroon and white steals the headlines for all the right reasons.  

An awesome display of stylish and aggressive hurling at Semple Stadium on Saturday evening deservedly secured Galway’s ninth National Hurling League title and the county’s first since 2004.

Incredibly this is Galway’s first ever win over Cork in a national final, which made it sweet, but more importantly this eight points victory – which didn’t flatter them – has laid to rest the ghosts of recent second-half collapses at the historic ‘Tom Semple’s Field’.

Much like the weather on Saturday – hot one minute when the sun was shining but bitterly cold the next when the chilling winds blew – the county’s hurling supporters arrived in Thurles not really knowing what Galway team would show up.

Would we get the side who managed to score just a solitary second-half point against Tipperary in the League defeat earlier in March and a repeat of the performance against Waterford in the All-Ireland quarter-final last summer when a six points lead was surrendered after the interval at the same venue; or the Galway outfit that showed bottle and passion in their rousing comeback victory over Kilkenny at Nowlan Park in March.

As it turned out, we got neither really – although there was spade loads of bottle and passion this was a whole new Galway beast who produced the complete, all round team performance of championship intensity at the beginning of May.

Galway hurled with style, picking-off some incredible scores but their physicality was the most pleasing – and surprising – aspect. And aggression. Oh boy, Galway’s raw aggression was a joy to watch. Joe Canning’s cameo moment about half an hour into the match – in which he clattered corner back Brian Murphy with an almighty thunderous shoulder to earn possession and land a point – perfectly summed up how Galway was using its strength to bully Cork in the tackle.

When was the last time you’ve heard the manager of an opposing major hurling county talk about a Galway team being stronger and more physical in the tackle?But Cork’s Denis Walsh was spot-on

– Galway, renowned for their ‘Fancy Dan’ stylish stickwork, were punishing in the tackle, revealing a new steely underbelly that, if sustained, should see Galway challenging for major honours come September.

They laid their bodies on the line, too, best summed up by Ollie Canning, who literally threw himself in front of a Cathal Naughton bullet that was destined to burn a hole in Colm Callanan’s net midway through the second half. It had to sting – and surely left a massive bruise – but it was the kind of hurt this Galway team were willing to take for the cause.

The work rate was phenomenal as well – clearly Portumna’s ‘work like dogs’ mantra now permeates the county team. Time and again Galway hassled, hooked and blocked the Cork players with the Tribesmen’s full-forward line setting the example, scrapping for everything and letting nobody out of defence easily, which filtered its way back right through the team.

Each Galway man stood up and was counted. Galway simply suffocated the Rebels, who couldn’t cope with the intensity or physicality of the match.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.