DONOGHUE’S VOW
Pride with the fall but a solemn promise to rise again
BY THE time he visited the cavernous press conference room under the Hogan Stand, Micheál Donoghue was as steady as the horizon once more.
The Galway manager was not inoculated against the drama that sluiced through Croke Park in the second half.
He remonstrated with officials, he tried to inspire his players, he sent in replacements and watched as his team climbed out of a cold, black hole, almost dragging themselves clear in what would have been a barely believable comeback.
Then they tumbled back in again, failing, just, to scramble clear of Limerick’s desperation.
And little more than an hour after the last whistle, Donoghue had rediscovered his customary calm.
He must have ached within, but without he was measured and typically dignified.
‘I couldn’t be prouder of them,’ he said of his team. ‘Anything we’ve asked of these lads since we came in, they’ve been top notch.
‘They’ve been one of the top teams, they’ve been knocking on the door for so long.
‘Obviously last year we made the breakthrough, which was massive and there was a lot of learnings we’ll take from this year as well, particularly early on and how we prepared for the year but they’re a great bunch to work with.
‘As I said, there’s a huge understanding of the responsibility that goes with being involved in Galway and some massive leaders in there and all we can do any day is ask them to go out and give it 100 per cent and they did, and I’m really proud of them.’
Galway were, for years, compliant targets for the meaner side of punditry.
No noisy analyst went hungry questioning their courage.
They buried that slur a year ago, and nothing that happened yesterday will cause it to be flung at them again. Their failings here were nothing to do with their spirit or their appetite. That this was their ninth match of a hot, exhausting summer looks a more plausible cause of their difficulties. Replays against Kilkenny and Clare on sweltering, bone-dry days put matches into their legs that they didn’t need. If O’Donoghue gave any credence to it as a cause for their defeat, he wasn’t showing it last night. He simply accepted that his side had lost and eschewed the excuses.
‘Obviously we were where we wanted to be today,’ he shrugged.
‘I still thought the two weeks (between the semi-final relay against Clare and the final), we had enough time, and the lads bounced back really well.
‘I’m not going to sit here and use any excuse. We didn’t hurl the way we want to hurl for periods in games. The lads worked really hard at the end of the game.
‘My thoughts on the players isn’t going to change. Yeah, we’re bitterly disappointed. What we achieved together and where we want to go, there’s huge unity, huge trust, a huge collective in that group and they’ve shown massive resilience down through the years when they’ve had setbacks and I’m sure they’re going to bounce back again.’
Last winter will have been a pleasing blur for the hurlers of Galway. They were champions for the first time in 29 years and the dark nights will have sped by.
This winter will take longer to pass. Next spring and the return of competitive hurling will feel an age away.
‘We were just below par,’ said their manager. ‘Training had gone well for the last two weeks and we were in good form coming up this morning but look, it’s disappointing on the big day when it doesn’t go your way.
‘But you have to take it on the chin now and just move on.’