Over-confidence is quite a risky Lane to go down but Tribe still have more room for improvement in replay
I WAS driving home from the Leinster final when Noel Lane came on the radio.
I was struck by his observations on the game, particularly when he said Kilkenny might have been better off losing by a point on Sunday rather than running the risk of suffering a heavy defeat in the replay.
I found it unusual, especially from a man as experienced as him.
When I put it with David Burke’s comments in the lead up to the game, saying that Kilkenny feared Galway, it occurred to me that Galway are, shall we say, slightly more confident than would normally be the case.
No team will play well every day they go out and when it happened to Kilkenny in the past they just got on with their business, particularly where replays are concerned, and did their talking out on the field.
Perhaps that mindset manifested itself in Galway’s performance somewhat but Kilkenny had their homework done. Just like several teams introduced a sweeper in order to inhibit Kilkenny’s goal-scoring ability when they were at their peak,
Kilkenny had adapted to Galway after the beating they took in Salthill.
Galway went long with their puckouts that day and won most of them but Kilkenny learned from that and competed much better in that regard on Sunday, with Padraig Walsh, Joey Holden, Paul Murphy, Enda Morrissey and Cillian Buckley lording it at various stages. With Galway, it appeared as though they were waiting for things to happen - that Joe Canning or Conor Whelan would conjure up a moment of magic to get them through. There seemed to be an expectancy about them that that would happen but it didn’t.
Kilkenny are now facing into a third Championship game with Galway this year but ultimately they’ll want to beat them on a day when there’s no comeback.
Galway will know they have room improvebut for ment so too will Kilkenny, for whom neither TJ Reid nor Walter Walsh were at the top of their game. As for the replay, I have no problem with it being played in Thurles per se and neither will either team or supporters, but I would very much question the reasoning behind it.
There should be no concerts in Croke Park at this time of year. It’s a GAA ground for hurling and football first and foremost and this isn’t the first time this has happened either, as we saw in 2014 when the Kerry-mayo replay went to Limerick.
It’s wrong and shouldn’t be allowed to in future.
There’s nowhere else in Leinster that could hold it realistically so once Croke Park was out of commission, it could only go to Semple Stadium.
There were 40,000 in Croke Park last Sunday and, who knows, there might be even more people looking to go to the replay.
However, they’ll need to water the pitch if Sunday’s Munster final is anything to go by.
I expect Galway to win the replay. The drawn game had very little in terms of goalmouth incidents and that may well change next Sunday.
Ultimately, the greater room for improvement lies with Galway, particularly up front, and you’d have to expect they’ll get a greater return from the likes of Canning, Whelan and Conor Cooney this time.
There should be no concerts in Croke Park in summer..