TRIBE BOSS IS BRACING FOR A BACKLASH AGAINST CATS
Galway v Kilkenny Croke Park, Sunday 4pm BY PAT NOLAN
GALWAY boss Micheal Donoghue says he’s expecting a “totally different game” against Kilkenny on Sunday.
The Tribe clocked up a routine win over Brian Cody’s men last month.
The All-ireland champions are also the only team in the Championship with a 100 per cent record, topping the group in Leinster with that 1-22 to 2-11 defeat of Kilkenny at Pearse Stadium along the way.
That game was Kilkenny’s third in as many weeks, however, something that affected virtually every team to varying degrees in both Munster and Leinster.
Ahead of Sunday’s Leinster final, Donoghue said: “I think everyone had to prepare for it in the best way that they could.
“It was a big game for us in terms of it was the first one for us at home.
“We always put huge emphasis on our home games.
“No two games are the same anyway, that’s definitely in the memory bank.
“Look, we have huge respect for them. They’ve been the standard bearers for so many years.
“We know that it’s going to be a totally different game again on the first of July.
“In terms of ourselves it’s just about preparing well over the next couple of weeks and being ready for a big challenge again.
“Playing them again is obviously going to be a massive challenge but as I said it’s up to ourselves now and how we prepare for it and get ready for it.
“Because we know it’s going to be a huge test, a huge challenge again. We know they’re going to come wanting to win it as well.
“It’s going to be a totally different game to the one that’s in Pearse Stadium and we’re well aware of that.”
Galway are the only team in this year’s Championship to have won while playing on a third or fourth consecutive week, narrowly beating
Dublin in their last outing, though the game was a dead rubber.
Donoghue added:
“We didn’t have to get a result and that’s what was portrayed.
“But for ourselves we had momentum and we wanted to keep it going and in fairness to the lads I think coming into that week you could see maybe a small bit of fatigue and the way the game played out, we had to hurt big time in the last 15 minutes to stay and dig it out.
“It was a massive learning and we took a lot of positives out of it and it was a good test for us for the last game.
“Everyone puts a huge emphasis on the home games as well and we wanted to go out of it with a good performance and a good win, but we had to work really hard for it.”