Galway found wanting

Date Published: {J}

STEPHEN GLENNON

THERE was only one question on the collective mind of the county’s disillusioned hurling supporters as they left Semple Stadium following the Tribesmen’s 2-23 to 2-13 defeat to Waterford in the All-Ireland quarter-final on Sunday: Where does Galway hurling go from here?

For the second time in the 2011 championship season – and for the umpteenth time in the past two decades – Galway hurlers, quite simply, failed to deliver on the promise and potential that many believe to be there.

Anger and frustration fuelled the outcry of supporters in the aftermath of the harrowing Leinster semi-final loss to Dublin, but on Sunday evening the prevalent feeling was just bewilderment as management, players and supporters alike sought to come to grips with yet another abject display.

In the dimly-lit tunnels of Semple Stadium, Galway boss John McIntyre, whose future as manager hangs in the balance, conceded afterwards that his team was “found wanting” once more.

By now, though, that has become a familiar assessment of Galway performances – not only in the big championship games under his tutelage but, by and large, of Galway displays in the last decade or so.

“We got off to a bad start and we were 1-2 to no score down in the blink of an eye. I thought we had rallied back into the game in the middle period of the first half and at half-time everything was still there to be played for. Waterford, though, just seemed to lift the tempo another gear and we were found wanting. There are no arguments with the scoreline – it speaks for itself – beaten by 10 points.”

While McIntyre recognised that Waterford played with great energy throughout, he was nothing if not perplexed by his own side’s capitulation in the second period, particularly given the Tribesmen were well in the hunt – at 1-9 to 1-7 in arrears – at the interval.

“We have no excuses, though,” continued the Galway manager. “It is a bad day for Galway hurling. I am feeling most for the backroom team, the management and the players. We will all run the gauntlet of criticism again but before four o’clock today we had won back

the support and the hearts and minds of the Galway fans with our recent good victories over Clare and Cork.

“I think most people were in agreement with the team we had selected – we looked well balanced – but it just blew up on us today and once again Galway have been found wanting in a pressure game. There is no running away from that.”

In any event, once again, McIntyre and Galway have been left searching for answers. He noted that the attitude of the Galway players going into this key fixture had appeared to be good but, for one reason or other, this did not translate into a competent performance.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.