Hurling heartbreak for Galway

Kilkenny ……1-22
Galway …… 1-18
More hurling heartbreak for Galway as their dreams of bridging a 27-year gap in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final died a brutal death at Croke Park as Kilkenny produced a second-half tour de force.

And adding to the agony was the fact that the underdogs from the West had put themselves in prime position to end the long drought since their last triumph in 1988, building up the hopes of their supporters when deservedly leading by 0-14 to 1-8 at half time.

They had hurled with precision and passion to completely knock Kilkenny out of their stride in that opening period with Joe Canning’s 0-7 haul being superbly supplemented by four epic points from Jason Flynn.

The massive Galway presence in the 80,000 crowd were beginning to contemplate the county capturing the Liam McCarthy Cup for only the fifth time in their history so assured and tactically astute had their display been.

But it was all to implode dramatically on the resumption as Kilkenny rediscovered the intensity and accuracy that are their trademarks, but which had been little in evidence prior to the break, to put a stranglehold on the game straight from the restart.

The champions had eliminated the deficit inside seven minutes and, worryingly for Galway at the far end, they were seeing very little possession up front as Kilkenny shut off the supply routes that had flourished before the interval.

With space at a premium, Galway increasingly lost their composure and shape in face of the pressure and had the demeanour of a beaten team for much of the final quarter, only two long-range points from substitute Dermot Collins and a late Joe Canning goal from a free lifting the second-half gloom.

The Galway supporters, who had turned Croke Park into a sea of maroon and outnumbered their Kilkenny counterparts by about three to one, were crestfallen after three weeks of such high expectancy since the semi-final success. In stark contrast, this was Kilkenny’s eighth title in the past ten years.

But there was no shame in the Galway performance. It took a masterful second-half display to overturn them and the fact of the matter is that they had Kilkenny rattled for much of the first half in which their dominance was not fully reflected in the three-point interval margin.

In a half that often lacked continuity, they exploited the flanks to great effect on the back of goalkeeper Colm Callanan’s brilliantly-executed strategic puck-outs.

Canning and Flynn delivered a procession of wonderful points to give them a significant first-half advantage, although they were decidedly fortunate to retire to the dressing-room with a full complement of players after Johnny Coen escaped with a benign yellow card for a neck-high tackle on full-forward Walter Walsh as he bore down on goal.

Although the full-back line occasionally looked vulnerable, they scrambled well and it took an unfortunate slip by full-back John Hanbury in the 12th minute to allow Kilkenny carve the opening for TJ Reid to score the only goal of the half.

Otherwise, Galway had enjoyed the majority of the productive moments in that first period and were less than flattered by their half-time advantage, but it was all to change utterly on the turnaround as Kilkenny shook off the shackles to reveal much of their customary wizardry.

The outcome was that Canning and Flynn were starved of the ball they had thrived on earlier and there was little opportunity in attack to turn things around, though matters were not helped by bad wides from Canning and sub Conor Cooney, while Conor Whelan shot weakly when presented with Galway’s best goal opportunity ten minutes from time.

Truth to tell, it was one-way traffic to the finish as Kilkenny outscored Galway by 0-14 to 1-4 in that decisive second spell, Canning’s goal coming at the death.
Scorers for Kilkenny: TJ Reid (1-7, 0-5 frees, 0-2 65s); R Hogan, E Larkin, G Aylward, C Fennelly, M Fennelly, W Walsh (0-2 each); J Coen (own point), C Fogarty, P Walsh (0-1 each).

Scorers for Galway: J Canning (1-8, 1-5 frees); J Flynn (0-4, 3 frees); C Whelan, D Collins (0-2 each); C Donnellan, David Burke (0-1 each).

Subs for Kilkenny: R Power for R Hogan (60); J Power for G Aylward (62); G Lally for C Donnellan (64);

Subs for Galway: D Collins for A Harte (24); F Moore for A Smith (blood, 43-45); G Lally for A Smith (blood, 51-52); C Cooney for A Smith (56); S Maloney for J Flynn (65);

KILKENNY: E Murphy; P Murphy, J Holden, S Prendergast; P Walsh, K Joyce, C Buckley; M Fennelly, C Fogarty; C Fennelly, R Hogan, TJ Reid; G Aylward, W Walsh, E Larkin.

GALWAY: C Callanan; P Mannion, J Hanbury, J Coen; I Tannian, Daithi Burke, A Harte; A Smith, David Burke; J Flynn, C Donnellan, J Glynn; C Whelan, J Canning, C Mannion.
Referee: J Owens (Wexford)