Limerick venue is a help to Galway for League battle

Inside Track with John McIntyre

It was around this time last year that the wheels began to come off the wagon of the Galway hurlers.

Despite a patchy Division 1A campaign, they still managed to reach the National League semi-finals only to come up well short against Kilkenny in Thurles. Cyril Donnellan’s early goal highlighted a flying start for the Tribesmen, but it was largely downhill after that.

That result and performance didn’t led to major concern in the county’s hurling heartlands . . . it was only April after all and Galway were clearly disrupted by the early departure of team captain Fergal Moore on a stretcher following his collision with Walter Walsh. Closer scrutiny of the team’s laboured display, however, indicated that several players were struggling to regain the verve of the 2012 championship and the team wasn’t knitting to the desired degree.

But the alarm bells really started to ring when Galway produced a most unconvincing and disjointed effort against Laois in the Leinster semi-final last June. Heading into the closing minutes, you couldn’t be even sure that they were going to avoid an embarrassing defeat against defensively set up opponents, but they got out of jail to set up a provincial final showdown against Dublin. Once again, Galway just didn’t fire and slumped to a comprehensive 12-point defeat.

That trouncing just didn’t come as a shock to Galway supporters, but also to the hurling fraternity at large. At least, the county still had an All-Ireland quarter-final against Clare to kick-start their championship, but only for two sloppily conceded goals by the Banner, Anthony Cunningham’s charges would have suffered another reversal running into double figures. It was like as though the summer of 2012 had never happened.

Unsurprisingly, there was serious fallout and team mentors, Tom Helebert and Mattie Kenny, both walked the line and, for a while, it seemed Cunningham’s own position was in serious jeopardy. He rightly survived and cajoled Eugene Cooney and Damien Curley to get involved as selectors at a time when others who were reportedly approached weren’t keen in getting involved with what was perceived as a sinking ship. It must have been a fraught time for Cunningham, but he showed dogged persistence – a trait fans will be hoping to see in the players in the coming months.

The restructured management had to grapple with injuries and the unavailability of the Portumna contingent earlier in the year, and though they were well off the pace against Kilkenny in the Walsh Cup in Freshford, Galway have been moving much better in the interim with the team’s comfortable league victory over Tipperary at Pearse Stadium a notable result given the county’s abysmal record against the blue and gold over the previous six years.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.