ENDA MCEVOY: The hard work just starting for Tribe

It was the early hours of the morning at the GAA All Stars in the Convention Centre in Dublin last October and Anthony Cunningham was rounding up his passenger for the trip home when someone said hello and shook hands with him.

“Congrats,” the well-wisher declared. “Ye were a breath of fresh air this year. The team of the championship. But you do realise the real hard work only starts now?”

Being the gentleman he is, Cunningham smiled, located his passenger and went on his way. It wasn’t as though he needed telling about his charges’ place in the scheme of things in the first place. Galway the team of Championship 2012? Absolutely. Galway the team of Championship 2013? No county knows better than this one that good performances one summer are no guarantee of good performances the following summer. A lot done, yes. A lot more to do.