Old failings resurface as hurlers suffer a big blow

Date Published: {J}

Waterford 1-14

Galway 0-15

STEPHEN GLENNON AT PEARSE STADIUM

YOU could embrace that old saying that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ following this disappointing defeat by a new-look Galway side to Waterford; however, whatever about this being a youthful and developing Galway outfit, the same old failings continue to haunt the maroon and white at every turn.

There were two predominant feelings – namely disappointment and frustration – leaving a sunny Pearse Stadium in the wake of this National League defeat to Waterford on Sunday . . . a 41st minute Shane Walsh goal ultimately securing the visitors victory.

Disappointment, because a win on home soil would have, in all likelihood, secured them a place in the NHL semi-finals. Frustration, because, not for the first time in the last two decades, the Tribesmen buckled under the weight of modest expectations and, utterly and ultimately, failed to deliver. By now, it’s a common theme.

No doubt, the ‘Galway experience’ would leave the most cursory of supporters deflated and while it is a bit early in the year to be writing obituaries, the nature of this defeat – and its recurring premise – has conjured up a significant measure of realism of the task that lies ahead for the Galway management and players.

Ironically, Anthony Cunningham’s side could conceivably go out this weekend and skin Kilkenny in the Cats’ own back alley – they have that in their arsenal – but that would only serve to accentuate the inconsistencies in the Westerners’ game, and it has been those inconsistencies that have as much heightened expectations as lowered them at senior inter-county level over the past 20 years.

In many respects, it’s an enigma to which the answer cannot be found in the stands or in the sports pages. It has to be found in the clubs – through their coaching programmes – and subsequently furthered through intensive inter-county training sessions, on the white board of the dressing-room and, finally, delivered out on the pitch.

In any event, a plethora of factors thwarted Galway on Sunday. The fact that they did not play anywhere near their potential was the most obvious, but then you had to take into account that a battle-hardened Waterford team used every bit of their experience and guile to scythe out a result while referee Anthony Stapleton’s contribution, at times, resembled a mummer’s farce.

What was worrying was that for the majority of this clash it did not come close to mimicking the intensity of championship hurling, yet Stapleton saw fit to dole out frees, yellow cards and, consequently, red cards with the alacrity and expediency of a seasoned poker player.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.