Cats so classy but Tribe failed to learn lessons
They’d have been able to console themselves over the winter with the thought that they had a good team coming, had won the Leinster title, had run Kilkenny so close in the All-Ireland. Now?
Their thinking has to be a lot different. This was a comprehensive defeat. Let no-one in Galway fool themselves. Let there be no talk about goals called back, Joe hitting the post and a man sent off.
Galway were lucky the game wasn’t over at half-time. It could have and should have been, given Kilkenny’s dominance.
What did Galway get from play in the first half? Two goals, and fair dues to David Burke for the way he took them, but not one Galway forward scored from play in that half. Not one Galway forward scored from play until the game was almost over.
At the other end, Kilkenny were taking Galway’s defence apart. Walter Walsh, struck two points off Galway’s best defender all year Johnny Coen, winning ball at will.
Galway have three men on the sideline who are supposedly all coaches. I didn’t see any great coaching yesterday. That’s two games now where the Galway attack has failed to really function. Two forwards doing all the scoring the last day and two forwards did all the scoring yesterday.
What did Galway learn between games? Where was the coaching in the way in which Galway again hoofed high ball down on top of Brian Hogan who had beaten them up so badly in the second half of the drawn game when exactly that kind of ball was sent into him?
I wonder too, was Niall Donoghue injured? He was taken off in the first half when the obvious move was to shift him back to the corner on Walter Walsh and bring Johnny Coen out to the wing. Donoghue was hurling well, even if he made a couple of mistakes, and would have been a better physical match for the powerful Walsh.
Tony Óg Regan was in real trouble at centre-back in that first half. Why wasn’t something done about that? At least give him some extra protection. Then again their midfield was beaten and might have benefited if David Burke had been moved out.
The tactical battle was won and lost before throw-in. When Kilkenny get time to consider they almost always do the right thing.
Unlike the drawn game, every Kilkenny player was in his best position yesterday. Simple. If there’s something wrong in your team, fix it.
There was also something wrong with Galway the last day but they did nothing.
In fact I’d go so far as to say that even with the whole James Skehill saga, they made a mistake.
James shouldn’t have started and Galway were very lucky it didn’t cost them a few goals.
I can be accused of being overcritical of Anthony Cunningham, Mattie Kenny and Tom Helebert but I hope it is seen as constructive criticism. You must learn and put those lessons into practice.
On Brian Cody and his two side-kicks, Martin Fogarty and Michael Dempsey, what can I say? There’s no talk of great coaching when it comes to Kilkenny. No talk of great tactics but, make no mistake about it, it’s there.
This was a triumph off the field for Kilkenny almost as much as on the field. Almost.
As a young lad, I remember seeing that great Tipperary team of the early 60s. They wouldn’t hold a candle to this team. Damn it, they wouldn’t even hold the match to light the candle!
Likewise the great Kilkenny team of the 70s — this team is out on its own.
Start at the back with Paul Murphy. He’s only 23 but what a leader. Look at the rest of them. JJ, Jackie, Tommy, Brian Hogan, Kieran Joyce, and for Paul to be the star among those stars, that says something. Go to midfield, Michael Fennelly and another youngster Cillian Buckley. They gelled in their first start together.
Up front TJ, Eoin Larkin, the two Richies Hogan and Power, and the debutant, Walter Walsh. One was better than the next.
Finally, the greatest player we’ve ever seen. What a historic day for Henry yesterday, his record ninth All-Ireland medal. He has earned every single one of them but none more so than this. Coming back from his third serious surgery, was immense.
We’re all privileged to have seen him play.
