MICHAEL DUIGNAN
The Galway whirl
THE Laochra Gael episode that featured yours truly was screened on TG4 on Tuesday night. I watched it again and it brought back plenty of memories. I would compare the decade just gone to the 1990s, in terms of the spread of winning teams.
The 1990s might have been billed as the Revolution Years but it showed how hard it was for any of the emerging teams to put titles back to back. Winning even one counted on maximising fine margins.
Look at us in 1994 against Limerick when it looked like we would be well beaten. From five down heading down the home straight, we were six up at the final whistle.
The hurt of the ’95 final when we missed a number of chances that could have had us home and hosed, only to lose to Clare.
To win one is special – to win a second confirms a team’s status among the best. We lost the 1996 Leinster final to Wexford and were beginning to resemble an ageing team in ’97, ’98.
It took all sorts of factors that second year to win that second All-Ireland – controversy, luck, talent – a whole mixture.
But there is something special about backing it all up a second time.
Whether it’s a junior championship or a senior All-Ireland, any championship medal is a great source of pride.
But as we enter a new decade, I look at Galway and how they mined just that one All-Ireland over the previous 10 years when the likes of Tipperary cemented their status with three.
To win after so long in 2017 led to such a massive outpouring of relief and emotion. They were winning minor titles and Under 21s at their ease. They had loads of hurlers and yet couldn’t get over the line. Every year seemed to present an extra barrier. When they did reach the promised land, it was so joyful – accentuated by the passing of Tony Keady, or the image of Micheál Donoghue embracing his father.
To their credit, they made a massive effort to do the back-toback but were trumped by Limerick, who were then ending their own drought.
Clare won their All-Ireland and then dropped out of sight. At least Galway were right there, nearly every year.
And yet the decade finished as it started – Tipperary’s achievement in winning a third one marked them out as a special team and they have created a lasting legacy.
Now the question is whether Galway’s spiritual leaders, like Joe Canning, David Burke and Daithí Burke – players that stand out in any decade – can drive this group on to another All-Ireland before it really starts to break up.
Supporters can’t expect them, with the hurling they’ve done, to continually carry the team.
Pádraig Mannion has become a vital leader and his brother Cathal has become a lot more consistent.
The same can be said of Conor Whelan. Will they find the two or three young lads to make the difference as they face Tipperary at Salthill today in round three of the Allianz League?
One of the criticisms after 2017 was that they needed to bring in more new players. That is a fine line. The lads who did it had proved themselves – they had the skill, the mental strength. Do you tamper with that? Come Championship, Donoghue reverted to the familiar and when they picked up a few injuries, it didn’t work for them. They hadn’t trusted enough in the lads coming through.
It’s up to the likes of Adrian Tuohey and Brian Concannon to kick on now.
One of the big strengths of our Offaly team was our tightness as a group.
In 1998, we brought in a lot of new players on to the panel. While they didn’t start, it lifted the whole scene – myself and all the lads were mainstays there for 10 years.
This young blood, the craic and the life they brought, lifted me and all the lads – they were younger, fitter and faster and it seemed to really push everyone on and created a brilliant dynamic.
What Tipperary did last year under Liam Sheedy was something similar.
He trusted the older players but the younger fellas were being introduced slowly – and then they did some job in the All-Ireland semi-final against Wexford when the likes of Mark Kehoe and Jake Morris were sprung from the bench.
Will new Galway manager Shane O’Neill be able to see something else that can add to the mix?
I’m sure some teams would settle for one All-Ireland. I’m sure Patrick Horgan would give anything to win one with Cork.
But what must be eating Galway is how close they have been this past decade. One All-Ireland would be a poor return for all that talent and effort. Limerick won’t rest either with the squad they have, but another win would secure Galway’s legacy. It would answer any questions about whether they are they gone past their best. It’s unusual that they don’t seem to be near the top of anybody’s list to win this year’s All-Ireland.
And yet I can’t imagine anybody looking forward to playing them in an All-Ireland quarter-final or semi-final.
Conditions have been brutal over the first two rounds. The spirit in Galway is the important thing. The players wouldn’t have been happy with Donoghue going but they need to show something against Tipperary.
If you can’t get up for this one, given the history between the teams, then it’s time to be worried. The Tony Keady affair – when the 1980s Galway legend picked up a year-long ban for playing in New York, having allegedly been reported by a Tipp exile – mightn’t exactly be mentioned in the dressing room, but history feeds into it.
This one is about body language, physicality, attitude. It’s about showing the spirit that was lacking the last day out against Limerick.
It can show that this Galway team have plenty more to give.