‘A sweeper’s never going to win you an All-Ireland’
IN two of Galway’s three Championship games to date, the opposition has set up with a sweeper. In the Leinster semifinal, Offaly put a fresh twist on the defensiveminded approach by utilising two. Galway still managed to break the 30-point barrier in that game, hitting 33 scores, and hit 29 points against Wexford who deployed Shaun Murphy in the role. David Burke expects a more orthodox game against Tipperary, making clear he is no fan of the seventh defender — and that he doesn’t think a team can win an All-Ireland with one. ‘Yeah I think it will be a good open game. We won’t be denying the fact we don’t like playing against sweepers. I think [Waterford manager] Derek McGrath realised last year against Kilkenny, that playing a sweeper for a certain amount is not going to get you where you want to be in an AllIreland final. He realised that last year in the replay and they went for it. They probably could have got over the line. ‘I know they’re still playing a sweeper but they tend to be scoring a lot more this year than they have been in the last couple of years. ‘I don’t think a sweeper is going to win you an All-Ireland. Even when Clare won it that time [2013], they didn’t really play a sweeper. ‘Look, ourselves and Tipp are pure orthodox teams, 15 on 15. They have danger men, we’re just going to have to keep it tight on them. ‘They’ve serious forwards, their whole unit is good but we’ve serious forwards as well. Their backs could be in trouble as well marking our lads. It will be about the battle in the middle of the field and if we can get enough ball into our lads, they should do enough damage to win it.’