I’LL BE BLA
SHANE WALSH expects Dublin to return the compliment to Galway after their fiery Allianz League clash earlier this month in Sunday’s final.
The sides played out a badtempered 0-13 each draw on March 18 which ensured that they would square up again in the decider, their first meeting at this stage of the competition since the home final of 1967.
Dublin’s Eoghan O’gara was sent off while selector Jason Sherlock has been handed an eight-week ban after getting involved in a sideline altercation between rival players and won’t be acting in his usual role as the team’s runner at Croke Park on Sunday.
Galway star Walsh (below) says he expects Dublin to be as geared up for Sunday as the home side were in Salthill last Sunday week.
“It is like the welcome we gave them in Pearse Stadium, we will expect something similar in Croke Park,” he said when speaking at
GAA headquarters yesterday.
“This is considered their home ground at this stage. It is going to be a difficult occa- sion for us in that it will be our first time in Division One final as a group and we are playing the All-ireland champions in Croke Park. They are so used to this ground.
“But we can only concentrate on ourselves really, we can’t be worrying about Dublin.
“You often see teams going out to play Dublin and they are beat before they go out. We won’t be looking at what Dublin can do. “We have seen it before, we are long enough watching them on television to know what they can do to teams. We are just concentrate on ourselves, getting our own performance right.
“That is what is so important to us. If our performance is good enough, the outcome will look after itself. If it is not, we won’t get the result.”
With Galway having experienced very few big days at Croke Park since winning the 2001 Allireland, Walsh reckons this is as big a game as he’s played in.
“It’s our first year in Division One, we didn’t say we are going to get to a League final or anything like that, we just wanted to be competitive and be there or thereabouts and push teams so if