Inside Track
Cunningham in line of fire after latest capitulation
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IT wouldn’t be Kilkenny’s way of doing things, but you could partially condone Galway’s feeble second-half display against Dublin last Sunday week – after all, they already through to the National Hurling League quarter-finals – but the excuses are very thin on the ground for their weekend wreakage in Waterford which has piled the pressure on manager Anthony Cunningham ahead of the championship.
I can’t remember the last time Galway hurlers lost four of their last five league matches, but that run of bad results is only the tip of the iceberg. There is little semblance of a settled team; star player Joe Canning still has no fixed abode; the central defensive positions remain up for grabs; while the lack of both energy and purpose against Waterford last Sunday was alarming.
If the league is regularly used by counties to put a shape on their championship selections, then Galway have failed that test miserably in 2015. I appreciate injuries have hampered the team management in this regard in the current campaign, but the Tribesmen were again shockingly disjointed in Walsh Park where they were one more easily tactically outmanoeuvred by their youthful hosts.
Facing their bogey team away from home, Galway needed to hit the ground running but, inexplicably, decided to face the elements after winning the toss. It came back to haunt them as Waterford sauntered to a 0-14 to 0-5 interval advantage with Pauric Mahony punishing a series of undisciplined tackles by the opposition. With wing forward Kevin Moran playing deep and Waterford flooding the midfield sector, Galway just didn’t seem to possess the nous to counteract that hardly surprising strategy.
With the hard working Andy Smith their only scorer from play in the opening half, Galway had plenty of catching up to do, but when they have cut the deficit to four within ten minutes of the resumption, they had given themselves a realistic platform of a successful and morale boosting revival. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the men in maroon as they then went 21 minutes without a score and could only manage two more points before the finish.
Frankly, it was an embarrassing capitulation and must leave the fragile confidence of the squad in pieces after a campaign which began promisingly enough only to gradually disintegrate. Perhaps, Galway don’t have the necessary depth of quality talent at their disposal anymore, but supporters are entitled to expect better than this. I was shocked, for instance, to see the inexperienced Padraig Mannion, a neat tidy corner back, start as defensive anchor. Surely Greg Lally was worth another run at centre back?
There are other instances of players being moved around the place, notably Joseph Cooney, but more worrying is the fact that Galway’s team-work and link up play is so far behind the top teams. Since the All-Ireland final replay of 2012, the squad have lost their way completely and the lack of leadership in their ranks when things start going wrong remains disturbing. They were made to look second raters last Sunday by a young Waterford outfit who at least knew what the game plan was and how to implement it.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
SOMETHING very odd happened to Tyrone in the Ulster championship in early April. On their home turf of Healy Park, they were doing nearly everything expected of them when leading Monaghan by five points at half-time. You couldn’t say for definite that the match was done and dusted, but the 2021 All-Ireland champions were in pole position.
You would have expected them to drive on against an honest if limited Monaghan outfit. Instead, Tyrone didn’t score for the opening 16 minutes of the second-half and in an enthralling finale, were left stunned by defender Ryan’s Toole’s stoppage-time goal snatching the honours for the Farney men on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline.
A couple of weeks later, Monaghan themselves had exited the Ulster title race when Derry comfortably got the better of them (1-21 to 2-10), leaving us more puzzled than ever by Tyrone’s dramatic decline since overcoming Mayo to claim Sam barely 20 months previously. Last year, they crashed out of Ulster by 11 points to Derry and subsequently came up six short against Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Against that background, their recent loss to Monaghan shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Tyrone may have made a shambolic defence of the All-Ireland title, but there is still a lot of quality in their ranks. They have an adventurous ‘keeper in Niall Morgan, while the long-serving Peter Harte, Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry, Cathal McShane, Conor Meyler, Mattie Donnelly, and Conn Kilpatrick are all top-class performers when in the mood.
There’s hardly been a word about them for the past six weeks. Tyrone are lying low, desperately trying to rediscover the verve and cohesion which took them all the way in 2021. Their pride is on the line. It makes them dangerous opponents for Galway in the opening round of All-Ireland group matches at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
GALWAY footballers won’t get much credit for their easy victory over Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht Final in Castlebar, but when a team achieves something that hasn’t been done for 20 years, perhaps we should be a little more appreciative of the Tribesmen retaining the JJ Nestor Cup for the first time in two decades.
To be honest, if Galway were to live up to their standing as serious All-Ireland contenders, they needed to be doing a number on Sligo. In this year’s National League, the counties were three divisions apart and though Tony McEntee’s team achieved promotion and were on a nine-match unbeaten run, a serious rise in class faced them at MacHale Park.
Granted, Sligo made a bright start with three points in the opening five minutes from Pat Spillane, Sean Carrabine and the accurate Darragh Cummins, but they would only manage two more by the break despite having the wind behind them. Though wing back Luke Towey was catching the eye with his runs up-field, Galway rarely looked under pressure.
Sligo were bravely committing numbers to the middle third, which meant they were a little light in numbers around their own posts. They couldn’t afford to lose possession coming out of their own half, but that’s what happened in the build up to Galway’s second goal. Damien Comer overturned Cian Lally and from his counter-attack, Matthew Tierney expertly finished to the net at the near post.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IS the Leinster hurling championship something of a sham compared to its Munster counterpart? Everybody knows who will end up in the provincial final in the east, but nobody knows the two teams who will feature in the ultimate battle for supremacy down south.
All-Ireland champions Limerick aren’t guaranteed to even make it out of the province, never mind reach the Munster final, after their narrow loss to Clare in Saturday evening’s epic at the Gaelic Grounds. Everything is still on the line for the five counties involved, although Waterford are again under serious pressure after losing their opening two matches.
In Leinster, there is little of that drama. Galway and Kilkenny are miles ahead of the rest; the only thing at stake is whether Dublin or Wexford – they meet in Croke Park on Saturday – will be the third team to emerge for the All-Ireland series. It’s a game which is hard to call. Wexford are going backwards while Dublin look callow as Micheál Donoghue is trying to build the nucleus of a new team.
Though Antrim are improving – they held the Dubs to a draw and only lost to Wexford by four points – the men from the Glens would be out of their depth in Munster; while Westmeath are proving cannon-fodder for everyone else. Since Galway headed east in 2009, they have clashed with Kilkenny in seven Leinster finals and another showdown is inevitable next month.
In contrast, every match in Munster is virtually do-or die. When Clare rolled into Limerick last Saturday, they knew another defeat after losing to Tipperary in the opening round would leave them on the precipice of exiting the championship. There’s a real dog-eat-dog appeal about all the games. In Leinster, there are two big hounds, and the rest are chihuahuas.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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