Minors’ joy provides some consolation for Tribe
THEY celebrated backto-back All-Ireland minor successes at Croke Park but Galway manager Jeffrey Lynskey said the cup was really won on a freezing evening by the sea last March. Galway secured their third minor title in four seasons by coming from behind to outscore Kilkenny 0-11 to 0-2 during an impressive final 25 minutes. Donal O’Shea, son of former Tipp senior boss Eamon, nailed 10 points while Galway’s miserly defence conceded just five points from play. Full-back Shane Jennings inspired the defence while Diarmuid Kilcommins and Dean Reilly were terrific up front in the second half. Lynskey hailed the second-half showing but said the turning point of their season was way back during the heavy snow of March when the players insisted on training. ‘We couldn’t get a pitch,’ revealed the Liam Mellows club man. ‘I brought my own two kids up to my own club and I got three shovels to try to move the snow off the astro turf. We realised after about 25 minutes that one of them had bolted. He said, ‘Dad, this is lunacy’. ‘So what we did was I looked out and the tide was gone out in Ballyloughane and I said, “We’ll go down to the beach”. So we had 54 lads there and we trained for an hour and a half. If we’re looking for one moment that encapsulated the whole year then it was that.’ It was Kilkenny’s third defeat of a 10-game campaign having also lost to Dublin in a 13-goal Leinster final thriller and to Galway at the quarterfinal group stage. They started brilliantly and created eight scoring chances in the first five minutes. They took four of them to move 0-4 to 0-0 ahead though Galway then came roaring into it. O’Shea blasted a penalty
over after a foul on Niall Collins and Galway added five more points without reply. Kilkenny’s response was to reel off four points to lead by 0-10 to 0-9 at half-time. Free-taker Conor Kelly’s fifth point of the game left Kilkenny with a 0-12 to 0-0 lead after 33 minutes. Kilcommins was terrific in the second half and scored two Galway points before winning a free for O’Shea to convert at the death. Reilly also grew into the game and hit three second-half points while Lynskey’s subs delivered in spades.
GALWAY: P Rabbitte; M Flynn, S Jennings, O Salmon; S Quirke, S Neary, E Duggan; J O’Donoghue (C Cunningham 33), O Flannery (St Thomas) (I McGlynn 45); D Kilcommons, O Flannery (Padraig Pearses) (S McDonagh 41), A Brett (C Keane 34); D Reilly, D O’Shea, N Collins (K Creaven 49).
Scorers: D O’Shea 0-10 (0-6f, 0-1 65, 0-1 pen), D Reilly 0-3, D Kilcommins, S McDonagh 0-2, O Flannery (Padraig Pearses), O Flannerty (St Thomas’), C Cunningham, E Duggan 0-1.
KILKENNY: J Brennan; P Dempsey, J Young, D Crehan; D Maher, S Staunton, J Harkin; C Kelly, C Kenny; C Brennan, J Buggy (P Moylan 43), G Murphy (J Doyle 52); C O’Leary (E Guilfoyle 41), J Morrissey (D Coogan 62), K Hogan (K Rudkins 57).
Scorers: C Kelly 0-7 (0-7f), D Maher, C Brennan (0-1 s/l), C Kenny 0-2, J Buggy 0-1 (0-1 s/l).
Referee: J Murphy (Limerick).