STILL GAME
Tribesmen need idols, not idles!
it. Everyone should probably just set their own goals, look at what they need to improve on, look at what they did well this year, and drive it on from there.
“And even if we all do that we’re still not guaranteed anything.
“We just have to put ourselves in the best possible position to win another one next year.”
Mcinerney’s father, Gerry, was on the previous Galway team to win an All-ireland, in ‘88.
Powerhouse Gearoid, 26, from the Oranmore Maree said: “It’s mad even thinking that we went nearly 30 years without one. When you win it this year it just feels like, ‘how could it possibly have been that long?’
“Definitely, it can’t be that long again, not with the talent coming through in Galway. But you can’t take them for granted either. And we know that everyone is going to be gunning for us next year.
“We just have to try to lay down our markers and see how it goes, start with the Walsh Cup and take it from there.” Mcinerney, who works in the family sports shop, said he always believed that he’d bring another All-ireland senior medal into the house. The All-ireland final star said: “I always believed there was an All-ireland in this team. But there were an awful lot of ‘nearly theres’ too, hard luck stories. It just shows you what someclub, times you have to go through to finally get over the line.
“I think mentally we’re maybe a bit stronger this year. Now that we’ve done it, we’ve kind of got that monkey off our backs and hopefully it’ll lead to bigger things.”
Conor Hayes, Galway’s captain in 1987 and 1988, said after last month’s belated win that he’d die a happy man having witnessed the triumph.
Mcinerney said Hayes, his own father and all the greats of the 80s won’t be forgotten despite finally being eclipsed as the ‘last Galway team to win the All-ireland’.
He said: “It was nearly 30 years of people asking those lads, ‘is this the year? Do you think any Galway team will be as good as your team?’ That must have worn thin after a while.
“Those lads will never be forgotten, they’re all absolute legends in fairness to them.
“You could still reel that team off no bother at all. What they did will never be forgotten.”