Aaron Niland says Galway's Leinster final win was his best experience on a hurling pitch
GALWAY hurling star Aaron Niland described his side’s Leinster hurling final win as one of the best experiences he’s had in his hurling career.
“It was absolutely unbelievable, probably the best experience I’ve ever had in my life. I was saying to the lads there, it actually doesn’t feel real when you come out on the pitch at the start. It’s an absolute joy to play in to be honest,” Niland told RTE Sport after Galway’s win over Dublin in the Leinster hurling final.
After struggling with an ankle injury in recent weeks, the Clarinbridge clubman put those concerns behind him last Saturday. Niland was in excellent form up front for the Tribesmen, hitting 1-8 in an impressive display.
“I think it’s just the occasion having silverware to fight for in Galway we don’t get enough of it I don’t think. Hopefully, we’ll change the tide now.
“We set our goals at the start of the year, we just wanted to achieve them. We just kept our heads down, we knew this was the next step so we had to take it,” added the Galway forward.
Niland,Jason Rabbitte and Cullen Killeen have been balancing commitments between the senior and U20’s over the last few weeks.
“I wouldn’t say it’s hard to balance it but (the U20’s) could be ran a lot better. I think to be fair to the lads who are just playing U20, they want to have their best team out every day. And we weren’t able to give them that, we were absolutely gutted to lose last week (to Clare). The lads put in unbelievable work, it was such a good group."
Galway occasionally left Jason Rabbitte isolated in the full-forward line, while the rest of their forwards retreated into the middle third to create space.
“The game just unfolds in front of you, you’re just trying to do what you can do. We know if Jayo (Jason Rabbitte) is in there, he is going to win the ball. If we all do our job, we will all be fine.
“We try to set up as best as we can, it doesn’t matter who’s there, it doesn’t matter what number is on your back. That’s the way we go about it.”