Galway eager to settle an old score with Dublin in Leinster quarter-final

FOR the past quarter of a century, the Galway senior hurlers have had more than their fair share of trials and tribulations. And yet, year in, year out, they keep returning for more – more physical training, more psychological palaver – and, often, get very little credit for it. All for the love of it.

One such player is current Galway captain David Collins. Since making his senior debut in 2004, Collins has been through it all. The highs have been featuring in All-Ireland finals in 2005 and 2012, winning two National League titles (2004 & 2010) and claiming a Leinster crown three years ago. The lows?

Well, as many Galway supporters will be familiar with, there have been just as many, no more so than last year’s All-Ireland qualifier exit to Tipperary. “We slipped up last year. In fairness, that was what we did,” admits the Liam Mellows man. “We slipped up down in Thurles when we gave away a six-point lead.”

Galway suffered a 3-25 to 4-13 defeat and for the players it was another opportunity lost. They returned to their clubs but, for many of them, the wait to make atonement has been a long one. “We had nine weeks [from the league] to this game but we have had 10 or 11 months since our last championship game which we lost in horrendous fashion. That sits on your mind and plays with your head.

“You ask yourself ‘where did we go wrong that time?’ ‘Where did we go right?’ ‘What do we need to work on to get to that next level?’ That is what it is all about. Analysing what you did right and seeing if you can do it better. Analysing what you did wrong and asking how do you rectify it?”

Collins says this was something they sought to address in the league and to some extent, they had success with victories over Clare and Kilkenny and decent performances against Tipperary and, to a lesser extent, Cork.

“So, we have worked on that over the winter and over the last few months and I suppose what looked like a losing game against Clare in Pearse Stadium, we ground out that into a win. We also ground out a result against Kilkenny. I don’t know why we didn’t keep that going or why our aims and ambitions weren’t to grind out more results like that. League, though, is a different ball game.”

He confesses that winning a National League title or, at least, reaching the decider in order to keep them hurling closer to the championship was their early season objective but an unfathomable drop in intensity and work-rate saw performances dip in their defeats to Dublin and Waterford.

“Then again, in the league, you are trying out players and you are looking to get positions right,” continues the Galway captain. “Championship is where you really want to be and we have waited a year now to get back into this position where we can get into a Leinster semi-final.”

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