Cunningham wants players to bottle the hurt
GALWAY boss Anthony Cunningham wants his players to bottle the hurt from their Leinster SHC semi-final replay loss to Kilkenny and unleash it on Tipperary when they face the Premier County in the All-Ireland senior hurling qualifiers at Semple Stadium, Thurles on Saturday (7pm).
Following their 3-19 to 1-17 defeat to Brian Cody’s Cats, it is back to the drawing board for Cunningham and his selectors, Eugene Cloonan and Damien Curley,and the St. Thomas’ native doesn’t rule out changes to the starting fifteen for this weekend’s encounter.
“When you are playing week after week, that is why you carry a panel. That is why you play loads of players during the league. There are loads of guys who are fit to be playing and to come into the team. So, we would be happy with that definitely. We have given huge experience to a lot of players.”
At any rate, a ‘do or die’ clash against Tipperary in the wake of the Kilkenny defeat is a daunting task for the Westerners and this is not lost on Cunningham. “Tipperary could have been playing in a Munster final bar a couple of minutes against Limerick. They were very, very close and they are a top-class team.
“So, it is going to be some battle there [in Thurles] on Saturday evening. We have huge respect for Tipperary but we also have huge confidence in our own ability. I think we showed a lot of snippets there of very good hurling during that match [against Kilkenny],” insisted the Galway manager.
Indeed, Cunningham believes the best way to purge last weekend’s defeat is to return to championship action as soon as possible and not be left to ponder on it for two or three weeks. “We are sharp now and you can’t beat sharpness and pace really and the competitive nature of matches.
“We have two great battles under our belt with Kilkenny. It is a huge challenge [to face Tipperary in Semple Stadium] but we are going to be well up for it and we are going to be there fighting like lions the next day.”
“Look it, any time you are still in the championship, it is brilliant. We are going to regroup during the week and get back to Thurles on Saturday evening. We are fighting [to stay in the championship], the same as Tipperary, so it is going to be a brilliant match. No doubt about that.”
That said, Galway will need to improve and, in the case of their offensive lines, quite dramatically. With a scoring return from their three championship games against Laois and Kilkenny (draw and replay) of just 60% – in contrast to a return of 72% over the last two games for Kilkenny – Galway have work to do.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.