We can’t shake off the Blues
PADRAIC MANNION has played down the edginess of the Galway-dublin hurling rivalry, which will be renewed next Sunday.
Galway’s addition to the Leinster Championship in 2009 coincided with Dublin’s re-emergence as a hurling power as they both jostled to topple Kilkenny.
Dublin enjoyed the upper hand with landmark Championship victories in 2011 and ‘13 but Galway have dominated in more recent years, with no love lost between the camps.
Mannion said: “The last few years we’ve played them most years in the Leinster Championship, so there’s obviously a bit of rivalry built up there and you kind of get a small bit familiar with the team.
“Look, you just have to worry about yourself. If you’re going to be going out worrying about other teams, obviously you’re not going to perform to the best of yourself.”
Mannion was playing when the counties met in the ill-fated ‘Super 11s’ game in Boston in 2015, when a mass brawl led to fines and suspensions on both sides.
“It was just one of those games where everyone was kind of playing on the edge, and it didn’t take much to send it over the edge,” Mannion reflected. “But look, even that night, we were out with the Dublin lads afterwards and it was all forgotten about.”
There’s little at stake this weekend in terms of League progression with the competition being overhauled for next year and both counties virtually assured of their quarter-final spots.
But Mannion insisted: “As a player, no matter if it’s relegation or promotion, you just want to go out and try and win and perform every game.”