Subdued Galway a long way short of their best

A strangely subdued, below-par attacking performance from a fancied Galway side last Saturday night in Croke Park allowed a Kilkenny team who didn’t hit any great heights themselves to banish the memories of a painful loss in Salthill, claim the provincial title for a 74th time and earn a four week break before an All-Ireland semi-final.

The stark facts of the matter are that Galway have now only beaten Kilkenny once (2012 Leinster final) in ten championship encounters in Croke Park since the provincial structures changed back in 2009. Brian Cody has a knack of getting his troops highly charged and focused for the challenge at hand when the men in maroon come to town, and Saturday night was no different.

Kilkenny knew that keeping the Galway trio of Joseph Cooney, Tom Monaghan, and Cathal Mannion under wraps would go a long way to securing victory. They hit 0-9 between them in Pearse Stadium but had no major bearing on the rematch, as Paddy Deegan, Mikey Butler, and Richie Reid stuck to their tasks in the Cat’s defensive alignment.

Coupled with a stubbornly resistant display from Huw Lawlor at full back, a man who had very little hurling training done since picking up a hand injury against Galway on his last appearance, and it was clear from very early on that every score was going to be hard earned. Galway got no soft scores this time off unforced errors in passing or handling from players coming out from the back.

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

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