Snow jok e as Lynsk ey’s Galway minors go bac k-to-bac k
GALWAY 0-21 KILKENNY 0-14
GALWAY claimed a third All-Ireland minor title in the four years of Jeffrey Lynskey’s tenure and he cited months of hard work as the secret to their unbeaten season.
The young Tribesmen excelled in the second-half to turn a one-point deficit into a seven-point win and the winning manager praised his side’s patience and dedication as they claimed a 12th All-Ireland title at the grade for the county.
It’s 29 years since Kilkenny ended a season by not being either the All-Ireland or Leinster champions at senior, minor, intermediate or U-21 level, and despite a lightning start in the final, they had no answer to Galway’s second-half drive.
“In fairness to the lads they’ve worked incredibly hard since January,” said Lynskey. “That’s their 16th game this year undefeated. We haven’t lost a game at any level this year in challenges or Championship.
“We had 70-something pitch sessions, 40 gym sessions. That’s how much we wanted it this year. There is no secret to it, it’s hard work.”
Ten points from Donal O’Shea kept Galway in touch and helped them surge clear after the break, while full-back Shane Jennings was rock solid. However, with eight different scorers from play, right across the pitch Galway showed they have plenty of talent coming through to feed the next generation.
After a brilliant start Kilkenny held a 0-4 to nil lead and were 0-10 to 0-9 up at the interval, but they were outclassed after the break as Diarmuid Kilcommins and Dean Reilly pointed the Tribesmen towards the title.
Afterwards Lynskey recalled some tough character-building sessions earlier in the season that showed him the eagerness of his side to perform for the county.
“We couldn’t get a pitch, I brought my two kids up to my own club (Liam Mellows) and believe it or not I got three shovels to try to move the snow off the astro turf,” said Lynskey.
“After about 25 minutes one of them bolted, he said, ‘dad, this is lunacy’. So what we did was I looked out and the tide was gone out in Ballyloughane beach. We had 54 lads there and we trained for an hour-and-a-half.
“If you’re looking for one moment that encapsulates the whole year, it was that. It was the character they showed.
It was minus whatever, four or five out, and they lads came out, they were falling into puddles of salt water, seaweed, you name it, the whole lot, and they didn’t shirk it.
“Because at the end of the day they wanted to get to Croke Park, to wear a Galway jersey. In fairness to them in the second-half today they showed that.”
The key period of the game turned out to be the opening exchanges when Kilkenny were totally dominant, held the upperhand on Galway’s puck-outs, scored four unanswered points, but also failed to cash in all their chips.
Four wides in that time allowed Galway to get back into the game