Tribesmen deserve their day in the sun

ONLY a puck of the ball separated Galway and Waterford as the Tribesmen ended their 29-year famine to bring Liam McCarthy back across the Shannon on Sunday.

Galway went into the game as favourites and justified that tag with a blistering start racing into a four points to nil lead in as many minutes.

Waterford struck back immediately with a glorious Kevin Moran goal but you sensed from early on that this was going to be Galway’s day.

The men from the West have been on a mission all season and they played like a team that knew their names were on the trophy.

Waterford for their part refused to give in but they seemed to be forced to work much harder for their scores and relied heavily on the contribution of Pauric Mahoney who chipped in with 0-11.

Galway on the other hand were much more free-flowing in attack and had a whole host of scorers with seven of their attacking eight registering points.

The impact from Waterford’s bench has been crucial to this season’s success, but it was Galway who enjoyed the advantage in this area yesterday.

The introduction of Niall Burke and Jason Flynn caused the Deice defence all sorts of problems with both attackers hitting two glorious points from play, each one better than the next.

Entering the final ten minutes Galway began to see their destiny and forged ahead with the help of the aforementioned substitutes.

Try as they may Waterford simply couldn’t match their opponents array of big athletic marksmen. This was Galway’s day. In three decades of frustration countless silky talented hurlers have come and gone but 2017 was different.

The uncertainty and volatility of the past was replaced by a steadiness and certainty of purpose.

This was epitomised by centre back Gearoid McInerney who has been the rock at the heart of the Galway defence all year. The comparisons to the late great Tony Keady were poignant.

It was fantastic also for Joe Canning. The most talented hurler of his generation has endured it all. This was his day in the sun and boy did he enjoy it. The Portumna magician took almost two hours to make his way back to the winning dressing room.

And a final word for Waterford. What Galway have endured, you can multiply it by two for Derek McGrath’s men.

Their day will hopefully come in the near future. They have paid their dues. They also deserve their day in the sun.