Hardly a moment’s worry as Galway make short work of disappointing Dubs outfit

IT’S getting harder to put a lid on the expectations of Galway hurling supporters after the county’s flagship team ran amok for the third big knock-out game in-a-row at O’Connor Park, Tullamore last Sunday.

The men in maroon are developing a ruthless streak which is central to any team with ambitions of being crowned All-Ireland champions next September as Dublin became the latest opposition to discover to their cost.

Having beaten Limerick by ten points in the league semi-final, before thrashing Tipperary by 3-21 to 0-14 in the competition’s final, Galway maintained this trend of putting rivals to the sword when having 14 points to spare over the Dubs in the Leinster quarter-final.

This is consistent and impressive form-lines by any standards and another landslide win is on the cards when they take on Offaly in the provincial semi-final in Portlaoise in over a fortnight’s time.

Against that background, you’d nearly expect the players and management to be getting a little giddy over their championships prospects, but there is no sense of anyone in the Galway camp being sidetracked by all the hype and the garlands thrown (deservedly so) in their direction.

The Tribesmen are close to the complete package. Their physicality alone is difficult to counteract; they are a seasoned outfit with most of their players in or close to their prime, while they also possess some of the top individual talents in the game. Joe Canning and team captain David Burke were again magnificent against Dublin, but Galway have also assembled their best forward division since the glory days of the eighties.

Conor Whelan, Jason Flynn, Cathal Mannion, Conor Cooney and Joseph Cooney have taken a massive burden off Canning, who is revelling in being finally freed from carrying so much responsibility up front.

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