Galway not good enough

NO injustice and no complaints. The Galway minor hurlers were beaten by the better team and the only real surprise from the curtain-raiser at Croke Park on Sunday was how Mattie Murphy’s youngsters had managed to stay in touch with an excellent Waterford side for so long.

The wry smile on Murphy’s face said it all. As the celebrations raged down the corridor under the Cusack Stand – showing just how much a first All-Ireland title in 65 years meant to a thrilled group of players and mentors – the veteran Galway boss had to concede that he could have no qualms about the outcome.

Three brilliant saves by goalkeeper Cathal Tuohy, allied to resolute performances in the central defensive positions from centre back Shane Cooney and full-back Darragh O’Donoghue, had kept the Tribesmen in the game a lot longer than perhaps they deserved, given Waterford’s dominance of the play.

There was hardly a Galway person in the crowd of 81,651 who could begrudge the young Deise men, playing their eighth game of an unforgettable championship summer, following the 1-21 to 0-16 defeat.

“There’s no excuse whatsoever,” said Murphy afterwards. “We were outscored 1-6 to a point in the last quarter and that says it all, doesn’t it? With 45 minutes gone, I think it was 15 each. We turned around and we looked at it and we thought we had plugged a few holes and that, but once they went a couple of points up and smelt victory, they really drove on, and the goal was the real nail in the coffin. No excuses, the better team won.”

The Tribesmen had been out-hurled for much of the first half, only to trail by just three points at the break, and rallied between the 34th and 45th minutes to cancel out a five point deficit. But there was hardly a person in the ground who could believe they had drawn level, so superior had Waterford been before they finally pulled away in the closing stretch.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.