Monday, June 22, 2009
COMING into Tullamore on Saturday, you knew something special was going to happen; there was magic in the air.
And it confirmed something I’ve been saying for years - games such as these, a Leinster SHC semi-final between two outstanding teams, belong in these venues. Fair play to the Leinster Council for their vision, first, in bringing Galway into their championship, and second, for bringing the match to Tullamore.
It wasn’t special just for the fans either. I got to O'Connor Park around 5 o’clock, several hundred already in their seats in the fantastic new stand, several hundred more queuing outside for their tickets, to be greeted personally by a guy wearing an Offaly top – Brendan Minnock, the county PRO. Brendan was efficiency itself, a guy who took his job seriously. It was Brendan, and all the others involved who made this what it was – a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
At half-time we had an invasion of the pitch by hundreds of kids, most with a hurley in their hands and playing their own mini-games, not a Gestapo-man in sight in one of those hi-visibility vests, to run them off the sacred sod. This was a championship day as it used to be, this was hurling as it always should be. GAA authorities everywhere, please take note.
And I haven’t even mentioned the game yet! What a challenge Kilkenny met on Saturday and what a way they overcome it. I go back to what I said about them on Saturday – people have started to snipe at Kilkenny lately, but if you wanted the perfect example of what the word ‘team’ is all about, you should get a video of this game. Twice in this match they fell behind by five points; twice they came back. It’s at times like that real champions come to the fore. They are a real team, they have real leaders. Acknowledge them for that, stop the sniping.
I’ll start with JJ Delaney at full-back, filling in for the great Noel Hickey. JJ was in real trouble early on with Joe Canning but gradually he got to grips with the Galway danger man – and I mean exactly that, he got to grips with him. Very clever defender. Then there was Jackie Tyrell, John Tennyson and John Dalton - two late entries to the Kilkenny half-back line but both of them holding up their end really well; Henry, with a couple of brilliant long-range points at critical times; Aidan Fogarty, with his goal at another critical time. For me though, the two men who really stood out were Eoin Larkin, and especially – and this is the second time I’ve said this year about this man – Michael Rice.
Ploughed a lone furrow at midfield for a long time, but boy, did he do it well. What work-rate, all over the field, and for the full 70 minutes, and what an intelligent player also. And then, the king of the midfielders himself, Derek Lyng, makes his reappearance in a Kilkenny jersey this year, and what an introduction. At the time Kilkenny were struggling, on the back foot, but within minutes the tide had really turned, and Kilkenny took off on their ten-point match-winning run. Problem for Brian Cody now though – when Cha comes back to full fitness, who is he going to pick at midfield?
First thing about Galway: when they get into a big leads in big games, why have they never learned to be cute, to do the little things to hold that lead. Why haven't they learned to slow things down, to slow the opposition down, to start frustrating their opponents. As much as I praise Kilkenny for coming back twice from being five points behind, I have to question Galway’s hurling intelligence. Once was bad, but twice? When Kilkenny were on that ten-point run, why didn’t Galway do something – anything – to stop the play? Instead they seemed intent on keeping it at a high tempo, using the short puck-out; I counted at least three points in quick succession for Kilkenny that came from short Galway puck-outs – that’s hurling suicide. The one thing about Kilkenny is they’re ruthlessness when they’re on top – where was the Galway ruthlessness?
Having said all that – and constructive criticism is my job here, I was impressed with Galway. Tactically they were very good early on, pulling their own players from their positions, leaving Kilkenny to mark the space – which was Kilkenny’s tactic - but then using their extra players very well elsewhere. I was impressed with Shane Kavanagh, Ollie Canning, Fergal Moore, Eoin Lynch, and especially, Cyril Donnellan. Joe Canning, of course, 2-9. The real test for Galway now, though, is how do they recover from this? And they MUST recover, because they’re going to be facing another test next time out. If they learn from this I’d fancy Galway to reach the All-Ireland semi-final at least. You'd never know, we might even see a repeat of this one.
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