Hurling
Minor hurlers buried under seven-goal avalanche
Tipperary 7-12
Galway 2-12
SOME days there are no answers, at least on the field of play. At Croke Park on Sunday, reigning All-Ireland minor hurling champions Galway found this out to their cost when they were hit for no less than seven goals by Tipperary in a surreal semi-final clash.
Both Galway and Tipp have been touted all year as the two best minor teams in the country but, instead of being treated to the sort of exhibition given in the senior game, this contest all but became a dead rubber fixture once the Premier County struck for their fourth goal just after half-time.
For all intents and purposes, this was a public execution and while Tipperary may have swung the axe, it was the institution of the GAA itself that signed the death warrant with their archaic structures that saw the victors having played four competitive ties coming into this one and the losers having absolutely nothing.
On paper, it will show Galway played Antrim in an All-Ireland quarter-final but – and this is no disrespect to the huge amount of work being done in the Northern counties – that fixture was nothing more than a bad joke. Antrim are as far off competing for All-Ireland minor titles now as they were decades ago.
Yet, the GAA persist with formats – at most levels – that are bogged down in bureaucracy, red tape, and medieval thinking. In the GAA, everyone is equal but some are more equal than others.
Take 2016. Galway minors lose their first competitive game of the year and relinquish their claims for All-Ireland honours. In contrast, Tipperary lose their Munster championship opener to Waterford, go through the back-door, and are rewarded with a provincial crown and possibly an All-Ireland title.
The GAA can exclaim that this is the championship Munster Council run but who is running the GAA now? In Galway, the Hurling Board was all but disbanded because the GAA insisted the County Committee should be the governing body. Yet, at national level, it is the provincial councils of Munster and Leinster – sub committees – that are calling the shots. Perhaps Croke Park – and Central Council – should start practicing what they preach.
No doubt, the Tribesmen have benefitted hugely in the past from their soft passage through to the All-Ireland series, winning multiple national titles at minor and U-21, but Galway hurling has moved beyond that now.
Those titles enabled Galway to establish themselves as one of the top hurling counties over the past 30 to 40 years – to harbour genuine aspirations each and every year of winning the Liam McCarthy Cup. The Galway players who achieved all that and were fearless in breaking new boundaries did so against opponents who held a loaded deck.
Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Tomorrow’s County Senior Hurling semi-final is off, after Gort GAA Club officially informed Galway GAA that they will not be fulfilling the refixed fixture against St Thomas’.
A statement from the Galway County Board today (Saturday) confirmed Gort’s position, and asked patrons not to attend Kenny Park, adding that ticket refunds will be issued this week.
Galway U20 hurlers bid to secure the county’s first national title at this grade in a decade when they clash with Munster champions Cork in next Tuesday’s All-Ireland final at Semple Stadium, Thurles (7:30pm).
Under the old U21 grade – changed to U20 in 2019 – the Tribesmen won 10 titles, but, despite a plethora of All-Ireland minor crowns in the last decade, they have failed to swell the tally. Indeed, their only All-Ireland final appearance in this time was in 2016, when they lost out to Waterford on a 5-15 to 0-14 scoreline.
The inability to transition minor successes to the U20/21 grade has, perhaps, become more acute with the seniors’ failure to build on their memorable All-Ireland win of 2017 but, in any event, Galway U20 boss Jeffrey Lynskey says the pressure to succeed – and the ambition – is no different from that in any other Galway set-up.
“Yeah, look, every Galway manager is under pressure to win matches and win All-Irelands,” he states. “It won’t be from a lack of prep or work on Tuesday night. What we got to do is make sure we are right ourselves, individually and collectively, and go out and represent Galway and put in a performance that hopefully will get us over the line.”
Most of the discourse in the lead-in to this All-Ireland showdown, however, has been dominated by Covid-19. Originally scheduled for Saturday, August 7th, the fixture had to be pushed out by 10 days when it was confirmed a member of the Cork squad tested positive for Covid. The HSE decision subsequently instructed all members of the Cork camp to quarantine.
As that story was breaking, Galway were also hit with a case of their own and they, too, have had their preparations disrupted by a similar scenario. “So, they (players affected) have been in isolation,” confirms Lynskey. “We have followed all protocols and worked with our team doctor and the HSE.
“All the lads are due back this week and you are hoping we will have a clean bill of health by Thursday (today). Look, I don’t think there is a team out there that hasn’t been affected by Covid. We were down eight lads the last week, but it gave us a chance to work with other guys, in particular the (2020) minors. So, we have been working away with them.”
While those forced to stand out with Covid issues only missed two sessions, Lynskey notes that they will still have to be monitored upon their return.
“The team will be picked on who is healthy and who is able. I spoke to the Dublin management and they found with the lads who they had coming back (from Covid), their energy levels weren’t there. So, we will be monitoring the lads closely over the next couple of sessions. It is not easy, but you just have to deal with it and adapt.”
All going well, it will be the hurling rather than any other issue that will take centre stage next Tuesday. After wins over Kilkenny (1-18 to 1-13) and Dublin (2-15 to 0-15) in the Leinster semi-final and final respectively, Galway can enter this clash against favourites Cork with a great degree of optimism.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the Galway-Cork preview, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.
COUNTY SHC champions St. Thomas’ will have it all to do to defend their crown after they were drawn in a group containing two heavy-hitters in Cappataggle and Liam Mellows – along with the team that last dumped them out of the senior championship in 2017, Killimordaly.
St. Thomas’ claimed a famous three-in-a-row last year when defeating a resurgent Turloughmore in the county decider and, while they have avoided the 2020 finalists, they have been pitted against last year’s semi-finalists Cappataggle and 2017 winners Liam Mellows.
Both Cappataggle and Liam Mellows have consistently competed at the business end of the championship in recent years, with Cappy pushing Thomas’ all the way in last year’s semi-final, with the champions just edging the contest on a 1-15 to 0-17 scoreline.
While St. Thomas’ also saw off Killimordaly by 1-23 to 2-16 in the quarter-final stage in 2020, they will still be wary of a Killimordaly outfit that dumped them out of the championship at the preliminary quarter-final stage in 2017.
In the aftermath of that defeat, Kevin Lally took over the managerial reins and in the ensuing three years St. Thomas’ cemented their status as one of the county’s top clubs with three senior championship title wins on the bounce.
Over the winter, however, there has been a change in management, with Lally and trainer TJ Ryan stepping down and former hurler Kenneth Burke, who has a growing reputation as a mentor and coach, taking over.
Burke is also a son of former manager John Burke and what he offers is a continuity from two previous managerial set-ups that have been hugely successful.
The 2021 senior and intermediate championships commence on the weekend of September 11 and 12 and, as always, they promise much.
See the full draw and analysis in Tribune Sport this week. The Connacht Tribune is now on sale in shops, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie
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