BUBLE OUT
DEFEAT never comes easy to Brian Cody but the manner of his side’s second half fightback provided him with solace and seeds of optimism for what will be a rapid turnaround.
He will need that character on display again next weekend because, as the losing Leinster finalists,
Kilkenny are straight back into Championship action against Limerick – who have been one of the stories of the summer in Munster.
“It’s obviously tough going in the conditions we’re in,” said Cody. “It’s next weekend, last weekend and today, so it’s fairly exhausting for players. But the reality is we’re not going to start highlighting that because we’re just going to have to play.
“The lads are in fantastic shape, they understand everything about recovery.
“That’s what they’re focusing on, getting themselves ready.
It’ll take a few days. It’s a question of recovering to go again.
“It’s going to be a huge battle. Limerick were being spoken of by lots of people as the biggest danger to Galway.
“We know the quality they have, they’re a top team.
“But we’ve just got to take on the challenge.
“If we’d won today, we’d be in the All-ireland semi-final.
“If we win next week, we’ll be in the All-ireland semi-final so I don’t mind postponing it for a week, if that happens.”
The Cats were down by 12 points just before half-time but by the 55th minute Galway’s lead was cut to a point, courtesy of Richie Hogan’s goal.
A ruthless Galway, however, eventually powered on to win by seven points.
“It looked fairly bleak for us for a while,” said Cody. “But then we got them in at half-time and they realised what they had to do.
“There was nothing fantastic said in the dressing room or anything like that.
“But the response of our players was magnificent in the second half against the best team in the country. But it’s very, very difficult to sustain that in these conditions.
“We fought to the bitter end and they pulled away a small bit in the end and that was it really.” J Skehill; A Tuohey, D Burke, J Hanbury; P Mannion, G Mcinerney, A Harte (0-2); J Coen, D Burke; J Cooney (0-1), J Canning (0-10, 6fs), N Burke (0-2); C Whelan (0-4), J Glynn (1-1), C Mannion (0-6). C Cooney (0-1) for N Burke (47), J Flynn (0-1) for Cooney (61), S Loftus for D Burke (69).
E Murphy, P Murphy, P Walsh, P Deegan; J Holden (0-1), C Buckley, E Morrissey; C Fogarty (0-1), J Maher (0-1); J Donnelly (0-1), TJ Reid (0-9, 6fs, 1 ‘65), R Leahy; W Walsh, B Ryan, G Aylward (1-0). L Blanchfield for Walsh (18), R Hogan (1-1) for Leahy (ht), C Fennelly (1-1) for Ryan (ht), R Lennon for Morrissey (49), L Scanlon for Donnelly (62).
J Owens (Wexford). ALL-IRELAND MINOR Q-FINAL