A wasted year for Galway hurlers but footballers will take stopping
Inside Track with John McIntyre
A hectic few days ended up in Ballinrobe Racecourse on Monday evening and, unsurprisingly, there was no shortage of animated debate among some punters over the contrasting fortunes of the Galway footballers and hurlers over the weekend.
The hurlers were certainly in the eye of the storm after their limp exit to Tipperary at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening, but even a few Mayo people were prepared to concede that the Galway footballers could now go the whole way after a thrilling win over Down on Sunday.
It’s hard to put a figure on it, but hardly more than 3,000 Galway supporters headed to Limerick on Saturday. Most of them travelled out of a sense of duty as there was no great confidence behind Conor Whelan and company that they had the capabilities of maintaining the team’s recent positive championship record against Tipp.
The Tribesmen have shipped too many heavy defeats this season and apart from that victory over Dublin at Parnell Park last month, it was mostly a year spent trying to regroup after one setback or another. Bad results eat away at players’ confidence and belief, and Galway shaped like men against Tipp who were unable to pick up the pieces anymore.
After suffering a third championship loss on Saturday, it was past time for Galway to leave the stage. Though some of the post-match commentary has been vicious and over the top, it’s difficult to disagree with the assessment that it was a wasted year for Galway hurling.
Micheál Donoghue returned to the managerial hot-seat last winter to understandable great fanfare. After all, along with Franny Forde and Noel Larkin, he had achieved something in 2017 which proved beyond the likes of Mattie Murphy, Jarlath Cloonan, Noel Lane, Ger Loughnane, yours truly, Anthony Cunningham, Shane O’Neill and Henry Shefflin over the previous 25 years.
It couldn’t have been an easy decision to come back, given the way Donoghue and his management were starting to put a serious shape on Dublin. It’s only last summer that the Dubs sent Galway tumbling out of the championship for the second time in six years, with the Clarinbridge clubman at the helm.
But the lure of returning home proved overwhelming and Donoghue pitched his managerial tent back in Galway. Unfortunately, the events of the weekend show he has made a desperate mistake (at least in the short term) given the magnificent victory of the Dubs over Limerick at Croke Park.
Pictured: Galway's Conor Whelan is challenged by Ronan Maher of Tipperary during the All-Ireland Senior Hurling quarter-final at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening. Photo: Ray McManus/Sportsfile.