Key talking points from the weekend
GALWAY’S BENCH
PRESS GALWAY’S injury problems this year have been well documented but Sunday’s Connacht final win over Mayo showed how they’re not so threadbare anymore.
Damien Comer (inset) made his first start since last year and, though Shane Walsh could only come off the bench, he made a telling impact, kicking two points in the last quarter.
John Maher was also introduced to good effect in midfield, where he curbed Matthew Ruane’s influence, while Daniel O’Flaherty, another sub, made the incisive run that led to the equalising free late on.
Moreover, Cillian McDaid was back in the matchday panel again.
Galway’s squad is coming together at just the right time.
MUNSTER
FINAL RETURNING TO ENNIS
JUSTIFIED OK, so at no stage were Kerry in any danger of losing to Clare in the Munster final, but the game was a genuine contest between a leading All-Ireland contender and a Division Three team, unlike seven days earlier at Croke Park when
Dublin beat Offaly by 20 points.
Clare may not have beaten Kerry since
1992 but they have been competitive against them in Ennis over the last decade, with their average margin of defeat standing at 5.75 points in four meetings since 2014.
That contrasts with a 16-point average in Killarney in the same period, while they were beaten by 14 points in Limerick last year and by 11 in Croke Park in 2016.
Cusack Park was perfect for the 12,059 attendance so the Munster Council got this one right, even if it required a coin toss.
If the Leinster Council doesn’t take note and stop subjecting counties to ritual slaughters at Croke Park now, it never will.
SPARSITY OF QUALITY HURLING
REFEREES
IT’S revealing that Colm Lyons and James Owens have taken charge of two games each already in the hurling Championship.
Clearly, the appointments committee only has confidence in a select few and, in the case of Owens, that would have been shaken last weekend.
Six days after taking charge of Cork-Clare, the Wexford whistler was on duty at Walsh Park for Waterford-Tipperary.
He didn’t handle the game well, with his dash across Barry Hogan’s eyeline as Stephen Bennett was about to strike his penalty especially bizarre.
You’d wonder if the games will be shared more widely in the coming weeks.
WEXFORD BOUNCE BACK, GALWAY FALTER AGAIN HAVING suffered a shock defeat to Westmeath last year before beating
Kilkenny to preserve their top tier status last year, we shouldn’t really be surprised at Wexford putting their loss to Antrim behind them with a stirring victory over Galway.
But still, it was some result and performance in the circumstances and while Keith Rossitter will be relieved, he must also be infuriated on some level that they produce this after letting inferior opposition off the hook in their two previous outings.
And what of Galway? Having made hard work of Carlow, snatched a draw against an understrength Kilkenny and now been well beaten by 14-man Wexford, you’d have to wonder about their direction of travel under Henry Shefflin.
In year three of this project, they really shouldn’t be producing performances like this.
WALSH PARK STALEMATE TIPS THE
BALANCE GEAROID O’Connor’s free in the fifth minute of injury time to salvage a draw for Tipperary against Waterford may have been dubiously awarded, but it changes the complexion of the Munster Championship considerably.
Had they held on, Waterford would likely have qualified for the knockout stages even with two defeats on the road — but now they realistically need a result in either Clare or Limerick.
Meanwhile, having been on the brink of elimination, two home wins over Cork and Clare could see Tipp into a Munster final.
And Cork could already be out of the Championship by the time they come to Thurles.