Same old story as Galway fade away

Galway 0-22

HERE we go again! There are some obvious similarities between Sunday’s Leinster senior hurling final, and last season’s All-Ireland final.

As well as being the same opponents, the half-time margin was identical; it ended with a familiar result; and there was a sameness to how the game panned out.

But maybe now the analysis will change. At around ten minutes past four on Sunday, September 6 last, Galway was in the driving seat at Croke Park in the All-Ireland final. They were beating Kilkenny by three points; it possibly should have been more.

The reigning champions re-emerged from the dressing room like animals possessed, and steamrolled the opposition, who flopped after the break.

Much of the comment around that time was Galway had bottled it. They engineered a winning position and blew it.

That suited people’s preconceived biases that Galway players can’t cope psychologically with expectation; that their failing is a mental fragility, which surfaces during the intensity of the battlefield, and not a lack of ability to hurl. In fairness, that thesis has been proven to be true in previous, recent championship campaigns.

The players had a different take: They believed they were good enough to win that game but were sent out ill-prepared for battle after the break with tactics that led to their demise. Manager Anthony Cunningham was the fall-guy, and paid the ultimate price of player power.

Last Sunday, something similar happened. Galway rattled Kilkenny in the first-half. They led by three points at the interval and like 10 months ago, it could and should have been more.

But the Kilkenny beast was awakened at half-time, and they came out and blitzed Galway, who underperformed in the second half again at GAA headquarters.

This time round the winning margin was greater, seven points as opposed to four. The narrative is different this time, too.

The players can’t be accused of bottling it – sure didn’t they battle hard to the end? The Galway management can hardly be blamed for what happened after the interval, either.

And while it’s tempting to depict this as ‘another Galway collapse’, the rather harsher reality of the matter is the Tribesmen aren’t good enough. Simple as.

There’s no shame in that. True, some players didn’t perform near their best, particularly in the second half. And it is true Galway maybe panicked a little at times and lost their shape.

But that didn’t happen in a vacuum. That occurred because Kilkenny ratcheted it up a few gears. They did their usual controlled madness and relentless intensity. And it worked.  It nearly always does.

Extended coverage in this week's Connacht Tribune.