‘WE KNEW JOE HAD A BIG GAME IN HIM’
Galway captain Burke praises a great leader who stepped up when most needed
JOE CANNING’S moment of magic that won last Sunday’s All-Ireland semifinal may become the defining image of this summer if Liam MacCarthy crosses the Shannon for the first time in 29 years next month.
David Burke was back in Croke Park yesterday, to launch the 22nd edition of the Fexco Asian Games, and he was more than happy to relive the winning point from Galway’s talisman.
It was made all the sweeter as Canning picked up an injury just after the Leinster final and had only been back training for 10 days before the match with Tipperary.
‘It was a huge moment for him, yeah,’ the Galway captain agreed. ‘The injury he picked up after the Leinster final, we knew that it was going to be three or four weeks out, and maybe he would have only 10 days training before the game. He had his hurling sharp within a few days so we knew there was a big game in him.
‘Obviously, he’s a great leader for the team and a lot of lads look up to him. He’s been doing that for years but he has been setting such high standards for himself, when he doesn’t play as well, people are fairly critical of him. But he stepped up when we really needed him to get a score.’
However, Burke says that the AllIreland final will be a new game where Galway might need to come up with something different.
‘It might be a different story the next day,’ he continued. ‘It might be someone different like Conor Cooney or Joseph Cooney who will step up.
‘Teams are obviously going to try and pin Joe down a bit more, you could see it with Ronan Maher the last day, he really pushed up on him out the field and nullified a couple of his plays. But the last two points he got out on the sideline were massive scores for us.’ Burke pinpoints the influence of Johnny Glynn coming off the bench midway through the second half as the winning of Sunday’s tussle with Tipperary, though. ‘The introduction of Johnny upset their half-back line a little bit,’ he said. ‘They moved Padraic Maher to the centre and Ronan out on the wing, and that gave Joe a bit more space to pop over those two points near the end.
‘You could see with Johnny’s introduction the last day, he set up two goal chances, a couple of points, and broke up play. He was a target-man for puck-outs.
‘But we are obviously going to have come up with something different the next day to get over the line.’
And while Canning once again stole the show, Conor Whelan’s contribution shouldn’t be overlooked. He has been Galway’s most consistent forward this summer, averaging five points a game in championship.
‘He’s the best man in any tackling drills we have at training, given his size. He’s some man to win a ball when it is down at his feet. You could see that in any of the games we have played this year,’ Burke said of the 20-year-old corner-forward.
‘What he has worked on is his aerial ability. I think that is probably why he is getting more scores this year. He has hit 20 points in four Championship games, averaging five a game, that’s a massive return for a corner-forward.
‘But more than anything, it is the work off the ball he does. In the Leinster final, he created eight or nine scores if you look back on that game.
‘He’s a real thorn for any cornerback to be marking. We will need another big game out of him the next day but he has a great head on his shoulders for someone who is still only 20.’
Burke reckons that he hasn’t
allowed himself to think of what it will mean to him to be only Galway’s fifth All-Ireland winning captain, although he accepts that it will be life-changing, should it happen.
‘I have been trying not to think of it and I have been telling myself over the past couple of seasons that I am here to do this job and to see it out and get it done,’ the St Thomas’ clubman added. ‘But it will be a massive thing if we can bring the Liam MacCarthy back to the west. We fully believe we can do it and we are ready to do it.’