Galway to bottle hurt

GALWAY boss  Anthony Cunningham insists his charges can bounce back from their Leinster SHC semi-final replay defeat to Kilkenny and he expects the Tribesmen will be “fighting like lions” to keep their championship alive when they face Tipperary in the All-Ireland qualifiers in Thurles this Saturday (7pm).

No doubt, Galway senior hurlers’ year hangs in the balance following their 3-19 to 1-17 defeat to Kilkenny last day out and a ‘do or die’ game against Tipperary at Semple Stadium in the wake of that defeat is certainly a daunting task for the Westerners.

This is not lost on Cunningham. “Tipperary could have been playing in a Munster final bar a couple of minutes against Limerick. They were very, very close and they are a top-class team. So, it is going to be some battle there [in Thurles] on Saturday evening.

“We have huge respect for Tipperary but we also have huge confidence in our own ability. I think we showed a lot of snippets there of very good hurling during that match [against Kilkenny],” continues the Galway boss.

Indeed, he believes the best way to purge last weekend’s defeat is to return to championship action as soon as possible and not be left to ponder on it for two or three weeks. He adds: “We are sharp now and you can’t beat sharpness and pace really and the competitive nature of matches.

“We have two great battles under our belt with Kilkenny. It is a huge challenge [to face Tipperary in Semple Stadium] but we are going to be well up for it and we are going to be there fighting like lions the next day.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.