Opening-half shocker tells its own tale about Galway

Kilkenny 0-21

Galway 1-14

IF you were a PhD student and you wanted to write a thesis on the inconsistencies of Galway hurling, this National League fixture against All-Ireland champions Kilkenny, in front of an attendance of 7,402 at Nowlan Park, would be as good a starting point as any.

Cutting to the chase, this mercurial performance just about summed up Galway hurling. In the first half, the Tribesmen were so out of sorts that you wondered did they really want to be there. It was as poor a showing from a Galway outfit in some time.

Indeed, by half-time they trailed 0-13 to 0-5 and it could have been far worse had Kilkenny not squandered a series of goal chances. Galway were staring into the abyss at the break and it felt their year might just hinge on the next 35 minutes.

Of course, this was never going to be the case but a hammering in this one, particularly after their lacklustre display against Dublin, would have been detrimental to team confidence – and when confidence is low, it is very difficult for a team to operate at maximum efficiency.

This certainly seemed to be the case in the opening period when Galway were guilty of producing a display that fell well short of inter-county Division 1 standard and a brutally honest conversation in relation to the issues surrounding this abject showing has to have taken place this week.

Up for discussion: Galway’s work-rate and intensity, which was lacking once again, along with their handling and touch – both poor – but, again, not surprising given their struggles in acquiring a pitch with a surface to accommodate them in recent weeks.

In addition, a number of Galway players took too much out of the ball – indulging that extra touch and running themselves into cul de sacs – while their peripheral vision and awareness also saw them caught in possession far too often.

They could also do with addressing their decision making, especially around the handpass, which resulted in the sliotar being literally handed to a Kilkenny opponent on multiple occasions.

When the Tribesmen did manage to work the ball up the field, shooting was rash and in one or two cases players shot for scores simply to jettison the sliotar out of their general vicinity.

In truth, this was simply symptomatic of Galway’s play in the opening period and, for whatever reason, they didn’t appear to have the ability or composure to retain and recycle possession under pressure.

A lot of these problems stemmed from the puck-out, an area Kilkenny for the most part owned. This was reflected in the fact that Kilkenny’s midfield of Lester Ryan and Conor Fogarty and their half-back line of Padraig Walsh, Kieran Joyce and Cillian Buckley won twice as much primary possession as Galway in this sector. Joyce, Ryan and Fogarty, in particular, were immense.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.