Defeat in 33 years for top Cats Model won’t look beyond Lake test in preliminary
INCREDIBLE RECORD ON LINE BUT THERE WAS TRIBESMAN AT HEART OF LAST REVERSE FOR KILKENNY..
GALWAY may never have beaten Kilkenny in a replay, but at least one of their countymen has. In 2013, Dublin became the first team to see off Kilkenny at the second time of asking since 1985 and they haven’t lost a replay since, dismissing Galway and Tipperary after stalemates in 2014 and then Waterford in 2016.
Galway also lost out to Kilkenny in the 2012 Allireland final replay, which was still fresh in the minds as Dublin sought to take them out after a share of the spoils nine months later. Externally, it appeared that Dublin had blown their chance after a last gasp TJ Reid point salvaged a draw for Kilkenny.
Internally, a very different mood was brewing, as their former cornerback Niall Corcoran, an All-ireland minor winner with his native Galway in 2000, explains.
“I remember straight after the match in the dressing room, David Treacy made a huge speech, and he wouldn’t really talk in the dressing room, but he made a huge, aggressive speech about the next game and it kind of made a statement,” says Corcoran.
“Players like David at the time maybe, he’s a fantastic hurler but he wasn’t that type of player [then]. That just kind of stuck with me.
“Even though we drew the first game, it came from the shift that we put in in that game.
“We felt we dominated that game and Kilkenny threw everything at us and couldn’t beat us and it was that combination of getting confidence from that and GALWAY knowing that we have their number and the motivation from the exact same venue as 2012 in Portlaoise, when they had completely taken us apart, and to put things right there.
“The week between the replay, it was actually a very kind of relaxed build up. There was no ‘we’ll show them’.
“There was a sense that we had their number and the next day we were going to put them away.”
They did too, more comfortably than the final three-point margin suggested, to record their first Championship win over Kilkenny since 1942.
Corcoran acknowledges, however, that this Galway team won’t have to look inside themselves too deeply to summon the belief that they can beat Kilkenny after last Sunday’s stalemate.
They’re the reigning All-ireland champions and, for the first time in KILKENNY TV TIMES: Live on RTE One from 2.20pm (throw-in 3pm) 30-odd years, it can be argued with conviction that their players, particularly those up front, are clearly better than Kilkenny’s.
“I think if you were to look to see which of the two teams could improve the most, I have no doubt that Kilkenny will be competitive but I think when you look at Galway’s performance and their use of the ball, they could be more clever with the ball,” Corcoran observed.
“Conor Whelan was taken off the last day, Cathal Mannion, Conor Cooney taken off, those guys are serious players and I think Galway will have learned a lot.
“I think Galway the next day won’t have that complacency that might have been there.”
Westmeath Wexford TEG Cusack Park, Mullingar, 7pm
v AN UNDERWHELMING record in Leinster this summer means Wexford aren’t looking any further than beating Westmeath in Mullingar.
Davy Fitzgerald’s side lost to both Kilkenny and Galway, and beat Offaly and Dublin – the latter only after a very late comeback – and Fitzgerald’s prediction that his side would struggle with having to play four weeks in a row came to fruition.
While hot favourites to dispatch beaten Joe Mcdonagh Cup finalists Westmeath tonight, Lee Chin (below) is wary of looking further ahead.
“We’re treating the Westmeath game with serious respect,” insisted Chin. “We saw last year they ran Tipperary very close and gave them a big scare so we’re not looking past it.
“We had a campaign in Leinster and we won 50 per cent of our games and we were disappointed with that, and that’s why we’re not looking past that game Our focus is on that.
“We got a bit of information that the pitch in Mullingar is going to be very hard. With the weather we are having, a lot of pitches around the country will be similar. The blisters on the feet are pretty prominent this time of year.
“We’ve got a decent break since that Kilkenny game and refocused now. But training wasn’t very demanding over the last few weeks.
“With Davy, when we have the time to do it, we’ll train for 90 minutes. But it always tapered down towards matches.”
Eoin Moore has a shoulder injury to compound a few other knocks he picked up, and he will miss out. But this game could see the return of Liam Og Mcgovern and Shane Tomkins after long-term injury.
The sides met three years ago in the championship at the same venue, and Michael Ryan’s side couldn’t capitalise on careless Wexford shooting that day, going down by eight points.
Chin recalled: “On that day they showed they weren’t going to give up too easy so we’ll definitely be waiting for that, too.”
We saw last year they ran Tipperary close..