Silke is wary of Tipperary threat in big Croker clash

IT is a funny old game this Gaelic football – or at least, the 2016 championship is – with Longford beating Ulster kingpins Monaghan in the qualifiers; Clare footballers outstaying their hurling counterparts; and the Tipperary footballers qualifying for their first All-Ireland quarter-final.

To a certain degree, Galway have also featured in the mid-Summer madness. After all, the general perception heading into the Connacht championship was that Division 1 sides Mayo and Roscommon would be fighting it out for provincial honours. And we all saw how that worked out.

Yes, it is a funny old game alright. “Definitely,” acknowledges Galway selector Brian Silke, “but I guess it is the backdoor thing again. In fairness to Roscommon [against Clare], it is very difficult to reset coming off the back of a defeat. When you look at the statistics of teams that haven’t won a provincial final and had to reset within six days, it just shows you.

“So, resetting yourself in that period is very, very difficult. You have aimed very much at winning a title, then it’s gone, and then you have to turn around and reset again. If you are working for something for a year it is not that easy to reset and go again in six days.”

For Galway’s part, their progression in the championship to date has been – pardon the pun – ‘smooth as silk’. With every game, they have improved, particularly between the drawn Connacht final and their mesmerising victory over Roscommon in the replay.

“In fairness, the first day was a fairly brutal day but the conditions were much better on the second day [against Roscommon]. Also, I think things went right for us. We felt, given we hadn’t won the game the first day, that we didn’t want to leave it behind us so there was probably more intent from the players.

“Also, this year, we have probably been a bit more consistent than we were previously. We will see Sunday if our standard of play has increased or not. Certainly, we have been a bit more consistent, playing better for longer periods in games than we would have done in the (National) League.”

The million-dollar question is, however, how has Galway elevated their game to achieve such a level of consistency in 2016? “I suppose, there is no easy answer to that. It is just down to work, work and more work . . . and practice, practice and practice,” says Silke.

“There is no quick solution to that unfortunately. The lads have put in a huge effort and they continue to put in a huge effort. I guess at a certain point of time they said to themselves, ‘look, we have put in all this work, now we need to show it on the field’

For more, read this week’s Galwyay City Tribune.