Minor defeat could stand to Galway
BITTER experience has taught Galway hurling people that there is little long-term value in winning All-Ireland minor titles and, even in the wake of a demoralising defeat, team manager Mattie Murphy acknowledged that the experience of losing to a fine Waterford side should stand to his young players.
Two years ago, a review of Galway hurling recommended the establishment of a Young Player Academy and specialist strength and conditioning training for teenagers – it really would be a shame if this year’s talented minors were allowed to fall by the wayside as so many have done before them.
The likes of goalkeeper Cathal Tuohy, centre back Shane Cooney, and full-back Darragh O’Donoghue have shown great potential in key positions this summer, but too often the county’s U-18s have been allowed to lose form or drift away since Murphy delivered his first title, beating Waterford way back in 1992.
Developing players between the U-18 and senior grades has not been a strong feature of Galway hurling over those two decades and the time has come to put proper structures in place rather than hoping that teenage talent can miraculously turn into senior success over the space of three to five years.
Instead of pressing the flesh in losing dressing-rooms or revelling in the fact that Galway minors regularly make it to Croke Park on All-Ireland final day, officials need to take a long, hard look at how the likes of Clare and Dublin have been able to turn talented youngsters into top class seniors in a matter of a couple of years.
Perhaps the championship structure is to blame. There is something inherently wrong with a system in which the victors played seven games to get to the final, whereas the runners-up contested just two. That wasn’t the reason why Waterford won on Sunday, but they were clearly the more intuitive, battle-hardened side.
Waterford began their campaign when they lost to Tipperary back on April 11, whereas the young Tribesmen did not get going until they took on Laois in the last Sunday in July. The system is even worse for the U-21s, who came in ‘cold’ against Clare – and suffered a hiding – in late August.
While the Waterford contingent were genuinely thrilled to have bridged a 65-year old gap on Sunday, Murphy was philosophical about what the defeat might mean to his young players after the disappointment of failing to deliver his seventh minor title to the county.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune