Galway have lost faith in their hurlers and there's only one way to get them back
Declan Bogue
WHEN THE KINDLY Mary Morgan, Kilkenny PRO came down around the press box at half time asking if you might like the attendance, you thanked her kindly and listened in.
8,243.
Surely… Surely some mistake?
This was the big ticket item of the Leinster hurling championship. The biggest game between supposedly the biggest teams, the ones that have won Liam MacCarthy in the last decade.
But… 8,243?
Those in Leinster that get queasy when the praise for the Munster hurling championship spills over, must find this figure alarming. Sure, there will be brighter days for the overall health of the big counties in the Leinster championship.
What we can only say for now is that 9,621 attended the game in Pearse Stadium last year. 11,550 were in Nowlan Park in 2023.
14,034 turned up for Pearse Stadium in 2022.
Galway are not alone in having their public turn their back on their team. Nobody likes being associated with failure. But Micheál Donoghue returns to a side in need of a serious makeover.
They started the league with a 12-point loss at home to Tipperary. They showed immense promise for a while after that by beating Kilkenny away, All-Ireland champions Clare by seven points and then Wexford.
But the league programme ended as the championship began; 12-point losses to Limerick and Cork before Saturday’s show.
It is clear that Donoghue’s role as manager this time is vastly different to the one he inherited from Anthony Cunningham in 2016; a side that had been to and competed in All-Ireland finals, seeking the final push.
Donoghue’s experience among Tipperary as a selector for Eamonn O’Shea gave him the broad perspective needed. In year one they lost by seven to Kilkenny in the Leinster final and one point to Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final.
The year after they went through the year undefeated on their way to claiming Liam MacCarthy.
They almost repeated the trick in 2018 only for their one-point loss to Limerick in the All-Ireland final.
In Donoghue’s final year they were unbeaten heading into the last round of Leinster round-robin but lost to Dublin; leaving the four teams of Kilkenny, Wexford, Dublin and themselves on five points.
Galway’s problem was that they didn’t go bananas on Carlow to ratchet up their score difference.
The point is, in Donoghue’s time they never succumbed to a defeat as heavy as last Saturday. The tone was set as early as the fourth minute when Galway goalkeeper Darach Fahy struggled to rise the ball and Martin Keoghan put enough pressure on for the ball to squirt loose, fired to the net by Adrian Mullen.
Despite that, they managed to wrestle the lead back and were on level peggings by the 23rd minute. The issue was that both teams were backfiring and spluttering. Short-range bounce passes that would hop off the turf in mid-summer were instead sticking in the mud.
Deliveries were coming off shins. Strikes were spinning in the air. Both teams were playing cat. It couldn’t continue.
Kilkenny found their groove and in the last ten minutes of the half outscored Galway 0-8 to 0-2.
From that point on, the Tribesmen’s confidence deserted them. Their full-forward line of Conor Whelan and Declan McLouhlin were swamped. Their markers Huw Lawlor and Mikey Butler were absolutely sensational in the way that full-backs can look when the service coming into the forwards is overcooked, undercooked and much, much too late.
McLoughlin compiled 2-2 in the league fixture between these two just a couple of months back. Here he looked vastly different.
By the end of the game, Donoghue was back with the Old Regiment; Pádraic Mannion, Cathal Mannion, Daithí Burke, Conor Cooney, Conor Whelan were all on the pitch. They all played in that All-Ireland semi-final loss to Tipperary nine years ago. Add in David Burke who was left on the bench, and you can see the obvious problem.
And yet, the veterans are needed. Burke’s introduction in the backline brought an immediate improvement; Galway conceded only two more points before Keoghan’s goal in garbage time.
“You miss your leaders,” explained Neil McManus on The Sunday Game highlights show as the panel searched for deeper reasons as to their demise.
“And nobody more so than Daithí Burke. The difference he made for the last, was he on for 15 minutes? He made a huge difference. That man needs to be at the centre of defence. They (Kilkenny) were being switched around; Eoin Cody, Billy Ryan, Mossy Keoghan, one or two were inside at all times with one roving. Daithí Burke needs to just anchor that defence and then build from there.”
The tests will come. They have Offaly in Tullamore this Saturday. The combination of local rivalry and disgust in last weekend will show us what Galway have.
Then they host Wexford, a side that beat them last year. Notably, they have Dublin in the last day of the league, a side that have caused them significant heartbreak on that very day.
It might have been a low-key start to the Leinster championship. But it could turn out to be a magnificent and nerve-shredding finish.
The 42
