Anthony Daly: Expect more rutting stags with Galway's need greater

The physicality of the tackling and hitting was savage when Galway came to the Gaelic Grounds last February

Sat, 25 Feb, 2023 - 06:30

The day that Limerick played Galway last year in the league in the Gaelic Grounds, two memories still jump out at me. The first was off the field. The second was, obviously, on it.

The match was played the evening of the All-Ireland club finals, where earlier that day, Harry Ruddle had scored an incredible goal for Ballygunner with the last play to beat Ballyhale Shamrocks by one point.

When asked to comment on that match, Dónal Óg Cusack, who was standing beside me at pitch-side, referred back to the story which had emerged that week where footage had showed West Ham player Kurt Zouma kicking his cat around his home in London. “Between Zouma and Ruddle,” said Cusack to Joanne Cantwell, “it hasn’t been a good week for cats.”

Joanne was completely blindsided. I nearly didn’t know where to look. It was some craic before the game because when the game started, I couldn’t take my eyes off the action. On the other hand, there were times when I was nearly closing my eyes, wincing at what was unfolding in front of me, which was the second standout memory from that evening.

Sometimes when you are doing the TV analysis from the sideline or behind the goals, lads would be asking me afterwards if you can really see anything, if you can really make a proper judgement on the game when you are so far away from a lot of the action.

It’s a fair question but the flipside is that being so up close when it’s right beside you gives you a completely different insight into the absolute ferocity and intensity and physicality of the tackling and hitting. And it was just savage in the Gaelic Grounds last February.

There was one time when Seán Finn and Conor Whelan went running at each other like two stags in a glen, and the impact was almost frightening. It was animalistic stuff.

Galway won that evening and you really felt that they were on to something against Limerick, not just because they had the power and physicality to match up to them, but because they had the firepower too. They proved as much when the sides met in the All-Ireland semi-final five months later. Galway just weren’t accurate enough on the day.

The sending off of Gearóid Hegarty was a turning point in that league game but Limerick still tailed off and Galway finished far stronger. Limerick clearly hadn’t the work done but they appear to be about a month ahead of where they were this time last year, which was fully evident in the Clare game.

That match couldn’t have worked out any better than it did for John Kiely. As well as beating their arch rivals, John had a stick to hammer the players with the following week in training with the way they fell off in the last quarter.

Limerick have nothing to prove but Galway certainly have because they have been way too inconsistent for my liking, as indicated again against Cork last time out.

Henry Shefflin’s hands were tied considering how many players Galway had involved in the Fitzgibbon Cup, especially with UG, who reached the final. But I still don’t buy that as a good enough excuse for their oscillating form. And Henry won’t either. Galway’s need for the two points may be greater but I still fancy Limerick in Salthill.

The Dublin-Tipperary game in Croke Park on Saturday evening is a tasty fixture that has just got buried because of so many big football games on around the same time. But it’s a match that will tell a lot about both teams.

Tipperary will be favourites but I’d be more inclined to see how they’ll play in Croke Park than just focus on the scoreboard at the end of the match. Liam Cahill’s teams look built for Croke Park, which Waterford were, but this is Tipp’s first opportunity to stretch their legs there under Cahill. He will have targeted doing well in this game because Cahill will have designs on having his team back there at some stage of the summer.

You’d be very impressed with Tipp so far, as much for their attitude as their form and high scoring numbers. When you see Noel McGrath pulling and dragging out of Kilkenny’s David Blanchfield two weeks ago, you know that every match means something. And that everyone feels – even though Noel is captain – that they have something to prove.

I expect a big display from Tipp but that won’t do Dublin any harm either because Micheál Donoghue will find out a lot more about some of his younger players than he did in Dublin’s first two matches. Waterford were a big test but they were down to 13 men when the match was really in the melting pot.

Dublin scored three goals against Waterford but pursuing green flags has to be a priority for Micheál’s side throughout this league, because they will be under pressure to get enough scores to make it into that top three in Leinster.

Another fundamental requirement throughout this spring is for guys like Fergal Whitely, Daire Gray and Paddy Smyth to stand up and lead this team now. I expect Dublin to put up a right battle but Tipp should win.

After the trimming from Limerick, Brian Lohan will be demanding a reaction against Wexford on Sunday. The players did take a lot of stick for that last performance but, while Brian would have been disappointed, I’m not sure if he’d have read too much into it either.

I’m sure Clare were in a heavy block of training. Clare went toe-to-toe with Limerick three times last year and they know they can compete with the All-Ireland champions. Did they need to empty themselves again?

The Clare public might not want to hear that kind of stuff but the biggest concern for Brian going forward now is to demand a more consistent level of performance than the no-show for 45 minutes the last day. Otherwise that kind of stuff can become a pattern, which can drain the confidence from the younger players.

Although Wexford won in Ennis last February, Clare’s record against them has been really good in the last few years, which was very obvious in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final when Clare looked in real bother.

Darragh Egan will be looking for a reaction too at home after such a poor opening day display against Galway so this might possibly be the game of the weekend. When a Munster and Leinster county meet too, why not go hell-for-leather when you won’t be meeting each other in April or May? Wexford Park is not an easy place to go but I fancy Clare.

Elsewhere, I expect wins for Cork, Kilkenny and Waterford against Westmeath, Laois and Antrim. Laois were excellent for stages against Waterford the last day but they might be meeting Kilkenny at just the wrong time after their showing against Tipp.

Kilkenny did get something out of the game but a 2-13 to 0-7 deficit against the old enemy at half-time can’t have left the natives happy. Derek Lyng will be cut plenty of slack but the Kilkenny supporters are like Manchester United fans – they get restless fairly quickly.

It’s so hard to call games at this time of the year, especially when nobody knows how hard teams have trained that week, or how tuned in they are. In that context, the purest form of action is in the lower divisions.

For me, one of the biggest, and most intriguing games of the weekend is at the top of Division 2A between Kerry and Offaly. Kerry got a huge boost last week with GAA Congress giving the green light to allow Kerry into Munster if they win the Joe McDonagh Cup.

That is the target. But if Kerry were to finally win the Joe McDonagh, they’d just have to be playing Division 1 hurling to have any chance of being competitive there. All of that is part of a bigger picture Kerry hope to paint.

And Saturday could yet prove to be a massive part in putting it all together.