Pistol put Perry in his place
MICHEAL DONOGHUE is convinced his marked men have the chops to go back to back in the All-ireland Championship.
Kilkenny made a habit of holding on to the Liam Maccarthy Cup but it’s something that Clare and Tipperary have failed to do in the past five years.
Galway’s All-ireland triumph last September was their first in 27 years and the celebrations that followed were long but also widespread.
“There had been such a gap,” said Donoghue. “And no matter what was going on, people wanted it (the Cup) there.
“Obviously, the first few weeks ourselves and the players made themselves available, but as time went on we pulled back and got back to brass tacks in terms of training.
“Once we went back we parked that ourselves. We didn’t stop the Cup from going around.
“There was a big gap and either ourselves or Waterford were going to be bridging a big gap.
“We said last year that we had to draw from the good experiences and the bad experiences.
“Last year was a great experience for us and now that we’ve gotten a taste for it of course we want to try and achieve that again.”
Wherever he went in the county, Donoghue was plagued by the question: Can you do it again?
“It’s a huge challenge and no matter where we go people are saying that to us,” said the Tribe supremo.
“I know there’s a target on our back because we’re the defending champions – but we’ve that parked and have a huge desire to now drive on, to push on again.”
Donoghue’s ambition is for last year’s success to be the foundation for a hurling dynasty out west.
He explained: “No matter what sport you play, if it’s been a gap since your last success – or if it is your first time winning it – then people are always going to say ‘how can you build on it, will you build on it?’.
“Because you’ve won obviously the expectation you push on.
“We’re working really hard with the board to make sure there’s a lot of connectivity with the underage teams.
“It’s changing the culture as well, making sure everybody has the same mind-set and that winning mentality.
“It’s very easy to say, ‘Keep winning’ on the field but there’s a lot of stuff off the field as well that we have to strive to get there.”
The 43-year-old
(right) says Offaly in the first round robin clash in Leinster is his only concern right now.
“All of our attention is on the first game.
“We’ve a seriously driven bunch so once we went back to training everything was pretty much parked and we’re looking forward to it again.
“The difference this year is the new structure and how every team will adapt to it.” MASTERS champion Mark Allen turned on the style to become the first player through to snooker’s World Championship quarterfinals.
The Pistol gunned down giant-killer Joe Perry – who knocked out defending champion and world No 1 Mark Selby on the opening day – with a fine 13-8 win.
Allen reeled off five frames on the bounce from 8-8 to book a spot in his first Crucible quarter-final since 2011.
“I just played perfect snooker for five frames to close out the match,” said the Antrim man.
“I wanted to be a bit more aggressive in the evening, my game’s about long pots and scoring.
“Joe’s a class player, he showed that by knocking Mark Selby out so I’m obviously pleased to be through.”
Last year Allen described early morning sessions as his weakness and was criticised for saying he wouldn’t alter his preparation.
But the world No16 revealed: “After last year I got a lot of stick for saying I wouldn’t change that.
“In the heat of the moment I probably don’t say the right things – that’s not my best attribute.
“When I saw I was playing 10 o’clock and 10 o’clock I got the keys to the snooker club to go in at eight or nine o’clock to get acclimatised.”
“I just handed it to him on a plate,” said world No22 Perry.
“He’s definitely a contender to go all the way.”
Meanwhile, misfiring Rocket Ronnie O’sullivan recovered from 8-3 down to escape the second session of his best-of-25-frame clash with Ali Carter just 9-7 behind.