Land of GIANTS
Physically imposing Tribe have put their size to good use and it sets them up for a big summer
AS the players lined up on the red carpet ahead of the Allianz League final, one salient difference between this Galway side and those that came before was immediately apparent – their size.
For some time now, it has been claimed this particular group of Tribesmen are extremely physically imposing and that point was hammered home as player after player loomed over diminutive President Michael D Higgins as David Burke went through pre-match introductions at the Gaelic Grounds.
In modern hurling, size matters. The nippy corner-forward they were once fond of breeding in Galway is being squeezed out of the game (indeed, there’s no room for the short, rotund inside-forward either!)
The sport is becoming a land of giants. No team personify this more than Micheál Donoghue’s newly crowned League winners.
Long-time observers of hurling out west reckon this is the biggest Galway team they can remember – and there are more big men coming down the tracks.
Damien Coleman, who coaches the academy sides from Under 14 to Under 17, points out that the majority of this year’s minor team are all over six foot.
Whatever they are eating west of the Shannon, it certainly seems to be having a major effect.
The impact of the highly regarded strength & conditioning coach Lukasz Kirszenstien, snagged from Tipperary in the close season, has been well-documented and while there’s a sense that size gives Galway an advantage, there are some who are more than keen to suggest that it is a hand that shouldn’t be over-played.
‘Hurling is still a game of skill and it will always be a game of skill,’ insists Gerry Spelman, the former Mayo manager who is now games promotion officer in Galway.
‘Skill is the cornerstone of everything. It is why we come to the game, and marvel at the players.
‘We come to watch a beautiful first touch, we don’t really come to games to watch a big man barrel another over the sideline. And there is always going to be room in the game for small, skilful players. Look at Richie Hogan and Tommy Walsh with Kilkenny, size didn’t matter to them.
‘It is great to be big, great to have pace, but at the end of the day, your skill levels needs to be high. There is no point in being 6’4” and being able to run like the wind, if you can’t hurl. And the thing about this Galway team, and the Tipperary team, is that they are able to complement their power and size with skill.’
There has been a pep in the step of Galway this past week. Spelman has noticed it in his day job and especially at the recently held
Galway are well able to complement their power with skill
Easter Hurling camps for U12 players when Conor Whelan and David Burke were among those present, helping the kids.
Improving skills is fundamental in Galway. Between the four academy sides, Coleman, who is also Connacht GAA director of hurling, works with almost 600 kids. As he has been coaching kids out west for almost a decade, many of the players that won League medals last Sunday had passed through his hands.
Both Coleman and Spelman pinpoint Gearóid McInerney’s superb performance at centre-back as an example of the importance of having the basic skills of the game.
‘Gearóid was also someone who was on the fringes of the panel from U14 upwards, he didn’t really stand out,’ Coleman says.
‘But he kept working at his game, kept improving his skills and you saw where it took him last week.
‘There’s an old adage that you can’t coach size. It is about the size of your heart and whether you have the determination to work at your game. And that is what we tell any youngster in Galway. That if they can work as hard as they can and maximise their potential with us, then they will get an opportunity.’
McInerney’s emergence, in what has been a troublesome position for Galway, has been one of the most encouraging aspects of the spring, although Spelman feels the county needs to focus more on how the team functions.
‘For years in Galway, we individualised things rather than thinking about the team. We looked for individuals to win matches for us and looked for individuals to blame when we lost a match. We need to move away from that, and think more of the unit and that is what this management team is doing.
‘Gearóid has done really well at centre-back but it is because he is part of a solid, defensive unit.’
Coleman also takes issue with the idea that Galway’s emergence has everything to do with their physical bulk.
‘It is true we have a lot of athletic and powerful hurlers but their skill levels and fundamentals of the game are strong, they have to be. There’s no point in being powerful if you can’t hurl.’
Spelman uses the example of Conor Whelan as a player who has worked at improving his game. Whelan had been ear-marked as a star all through the academy system, but Spelman feels in the past 18 months, he has clearly targeted areas where he needed to improve.
‘Conor has obviously worked on his weak side, and he is comfortable now hitting off both sides. You look for small things like that, which tell you how a player is developing. It is not just about being bigger and stronger, it is about improving your skill level. That is still at the centre of everything.’
When that skill is married to size, though, it may produce the formula that will see Galway end their long wait to bring Liam MacCarthy back west of the Shannon.