Burke says Kilkenny will be a formidable test, but Galway have belief to retain title

BY DECLAN ROONEY

Despite earning just one win against Kilkenny in their last five meetings, Galway hurling captain David Burke thinks Brian Cody’s side now fear the men in maroon.

Reigning All-Ireland and Leinster champions Galway will meet Kilkenny in the final for the third time in four years this Sunday (4pm), but Galway have only beaten Kilkenny in one Leinster final: their first win in the province, back in 2012.

Kilkenny’s dominance in the late ’90s and the ’00s seemed never ending at the time, but under Donoghue’s leadership, it is Galway that look like a team primed to rule.

Most recently, Galway had eight points to spare at Pearse Stadium in round three of the Leinster championship; and the St Thomas’s man thinks Galway recent run of nine championship games unbeaten has cultivated a fear in the opposition.

“I think they [Kilkenny] were a monkey on the back for every team in the country. I think they drove everyone in the country mad really for a while . . . they were kind of this unbeatable team,” said Burke (28), who is in his second season as Galway captain.

“But I think we changed that in ’12 and made them look like their good team was coming to a bit of an end.

“They still fear us in a way, I think anyway. They still fear playing Galway. Obviously, we played them since . . . we’ve pushed them a lot along the way. A lot of their motivation was probably to try and stop us, really. If you look at it from that point of view, you can take a lot of positives out of it.”

For more,  read this week’s Galway City Tribune.