Galway set to carry too much firepower for Wexford
THE biggest crowd to attend a Leinster hurling final in modern times is predicted for Croke Park on Sunday. Estimates of 50,000 are not being dismissed as high-flying Galway take on rejuvenated Wexford for the first time in the provincial decider (4pm).
It’s an intriguing showdown which is even animating neutrals. Galway, on one hand, have not just beaten teams in their last four knock-out matches, but actually buried them; while Wexford, on the other, have really exploded into life under the passionate and thorough management of Davy Fitzgerald this year.
When two teams on an upward curve clash something has to give and though Galway are understandably strong favourites to win their second Leinster title in what will be their sixth final appearance, Wexford are poised to bring a savage work ethic and intensity to the battleground.
That is something that league champions Galway have not experienced of late against Limerick, Tipperary, Dublin and Offaly in turn, a scenario which leaves the Tribesmen slightly vulnerable, but those emphatic wins are also testimony to the quality of the team’s play and consistency over the past three months.
In fact, since overhauling a ten-point deficit against Waterford in the league quarter-final, Galway have just been sweeping all opposition aside with the likes of Daithí Burke, Aidan Harte, Padraic Mannion, Conor Whelan, Joe Canning and David Burke all in inspirational form.
Unfortunately, it appears that Cathal Mannion is about to miss the Leinster final after injuring his ankle ligaments in their landslide win over Offaly, with Galway manager Micheál Donoghue admitting that the ‘clock was ticking’ against the Ahascragh/Fohenagh player being recovered in time.
That would leave Shane Moloney, who scored four points when introduced for Mannion against Offaly, and the fit-again Joseph Cooney battling for a place in the Galway attack with the rest of the team unchanged from the Leinster semi-final.
Wexford injury concerns about key attacker Conor McDonald and sweeper Shaun Murphy look to be subsiding as they prepare for a first provincial decider since 2008 and, in the process, seek to end a 13-year wait for Leinster title glory.
Fresh from knocking out a clearly declining Kilkenny in the semi-final, Wexford’s success-starved supporters will flood Croke Park on Sunday and their team is unlikely to flop or allow the occasion to get to them such has been the resolve Lee Chin and his team-mates have been showing so far in 2017.