TRIBE’S STAND

AGONY FOR THE BIG BOYS BRAZIL .............. 1 SWITZERLAND...1 GERMANY...0 MEXICO ....... 1 Galway fight back after Walsh’s rally cry fires up troops

KEVIN WALSH credited hard words and the response of his players to Galway’s stirring second-half fightback that ended in Connacht glory.

They left Hyde Park as provincial champions following a stirring Connacht final in which they trailed by a goal at half-time.

Eleven points in the second half, against 1-1 for the defending champions, left Galway celebrating but Walsh admitted that strong talk was required at the break.

‘We got in at half-time and had a stern enough chat and you can’t say anything but good things about the lads in the second half,’ he reflected.

‘We got hit by a point directly after half-time to go four down, and then a penalty out of the blue. We were finding it hard ourselves to get a few frees down at the edge of the square and so the penalty was another sucker-punch.

‘But maybe in the long run, it’s not such a bad thing. It asked lads to stand up and that’s what they did so fair play to them.’

Shane Walsh inspired Galway, weighing in with the best performance of his senior career so far.

He was outstanding, kicking