Well done McIntyre as Tribesmen finally gel
Those four have done a job with this Galway team this year that hasn’t been done in many a year – they have them playing as a team.
We always knew Galway had great individuals, and boy did they have them again last night, but in this game they all fought like lions, and they backed each other up in every line of the field, in every position on the field.
Above all, those four have instilled a mental toughness into this team; they were not going to be beaten yesterday, they hunted in packs, tackled with ferocity, crowded Cork in every sector.
In every line they were defenders first, but in the full-back line and in the half-back line there was real power in their play, real steel.
What I like about this management team also, they are not afraid to take gambles; we all know what a brilliant dead-ball expert Joe Canning is, from frees long and short, from sidelines left and right, but Joe was missing for the opening rounds of this league and Ger Farragher did all those duties; yesterday, Ger was kept as free-taker, kept as sideline expert, and it paid off.
What if Ger had missed a few of those frees? He didn’t, but no matter whether he did or not, that was a good call, and it was gutsy call.
They’re not afraid either to make the hard calls on the line, take players off, and so Iarla Tannian and Andy Smith were replaced, even though both had scored earlier; it’s not the fact that their replacements, Joe Gantley (especially) and Kevin Hynes did well – and they did – it’s the fact the calls that needed to be made were made and at the right time.
Then you had the starting team, and I’m thinking of young Donal Barry especially, and Aidan Harte; both were given their head, even when there were more experienced players available, and both justified their selection. All round then, great calls by the Galway management team.
A few words in praise of the Galway players also. I said on Saturday that I was impressed with the Galway 1/3 axis, goalkeeper Colm Callanan and his Kinvara full-back club-mate Shane Kavanagh, that they have the kind of understanding you need between two such pivotal players; they showed that yesterday – both were brilliant.
Shane was my own man-of-the-match, but he was pushed for it by Colm.
Then you have Joe Canning at the other end; what an introduction to top-class hurling for emergency Cork full-back Eoin Dillon!
On this form, Joe was almost unmarkable, yet I’d give praise to young Dillon also, because the pressure was coming from all over the field, reducing his chances considerably. Eoin never gave up, never resorted to dirt, tried to play hurling all through.
To the Cork team; on my way into the game I met Diarmuid O’Sullivan, looking fit and well – halfway through this one I thought to myself, how Cork could have done with his physicality!
I also thought about some of the great Cork players who had soldiered with Diarmuid over the years, and sadly for Cork, some of those players were only a shadow of their former selves.
I wondered earlier this year, before another match, if those lads – who have done so much for hurling over the last decade – would still have the ‘toe’, as it’s called in racing; we got a few answers yesterday.
Apart from Shane O’Neill in the corner and John Gardiner to a lesser extent, all the Cork defence was in trouble, and this is reflected in the huge score conceded – 2-22 for Galway, with 17 wides.
Even in midfield Cork were in trouble, and even Tom Kenny looked like he has lost a yard of pace.
What of the twin towers? Michael Cussen started very well, but Aisake was having problems at full-forward; he was shifted eventually to centre-forward, but there’s only place I’d have moved him, and that was to the sideline.
Aisake is a great trier, you can’t fault him for effort, but his hurling is just not good enough for this level – you can only take the horse to the well so often. I think too that it’s having an adverse effect on players around him.
Aisake is a project, but develop him as a hurler first, then throw him in to throw his size around.
Other Cork errors – Kieran Murphy is not a centre-forward, and Cathal Naughton is not a wing-forward, he’s a midfielder, and Patrick Horgan should be played on the 40.
These are lessons the Cork management team have to learn, or their championship will be on the scenic route very quickly.
Overall, a good league that finished with a good final, and credit also to referee James Owens for that.
Word on the Division 2 final: congrats to Wexford, but the least said the better – very poor game, very poor standard.
