Signs of slippage in Galway but reality check may be a blessing

Inside Track with John McIntyre

THE stampede to crown Galway as the 2018 All-Ireland hurling champions has stalled – at least for the time being. Last Sunday’s stalemate against admirably dogged Kilkenny in an uncompromising Leinster final has fuelled the suspicion that the Tribesmen may not be so far ahead of the chasing pack after all.

That anxiety was originally the legacy of Galway’s difficulties in just about getting the better of Dublin in the final round of the new provincial round-robin series at Pearse Stadium last month. Sure, Galway were already through to the Leinster decider, fielded a somewhat weakened team and were out for the third weekend in-a-row, but still warning signs could be picked up.

In their pomp, the great Kilkenny team of the 2006 to ’12 era was merciless. They just didn’t want to beat opponents, they wanted to wipe them out, especially their most-fiercest rivals. When the Cats had you on the ropes, there was no escape. We haven’t seen anything like that level of ruthlessness from Galway so far this year.

For an outfit which had been regarded as the clear championship standard bearers, Sunday’s draw with Kilkenny after a patchy performance in a tough battle, will have given big hope to their main challengers. The men in maroon rarely produced the fluency or vigour of last year’s all conquering campaign and, frankly, were sloppy and guilty of trying to gild the lily at times – you should always win the match first before trying to be too cute.

Two goal chances were spurned in the first half when Cathal Mannion and Conor Whelan took on the spectacular option of trying to first-time the ball to the net instead of applying routine finishing, while on the resumption, Joe Canning spurned a routine point-scoring opportunity in unsuccessfully trying to set up Niall Burke for what admittedly would have been a ground-breaking green flag.

There were periods when Galway looked like a team believing all the hype about them. They were careless, guilty of unforced errors and while never lacking commitment, the explosive all-action tempo of 2018 was missing. Take Canning, for instance. He had a difficult day on the frees and later that night saw his marker, Cillian Buckley get the RTE Man of the Match award. My choice would have been Padraic Walsh, but the bottom line was that the Kilkenny centre back was still a big influence.

Furthermore, losing a three-point lead in the dying embers of a relatively low-scoring match will have rattled Galway and their self-belief. Twice in the second half, they had worked themselves into positions to pull away, but simply weren’t able to, notwithstanding the savage industry of a relatively inexperienced Kilkenny team. A heap of their players have no All-Ireland medals, but under Brian Cody, if they work – and stay working – they are fit for purpose.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.