Will the real Galway stand up?
Too often, I’ve met Galway hurlers in Taaffe’s bar off Shop Street drowning their sorrows, lamenting another lost season.
I saw a quote from Andy Smith this week who said that he isn’t going to the races next week, no matter what happens tomorrow, but that’s the big question for Galway again now. Are a crew of them going to be on Shop Street again on Monday? If they are, it’s another lost season tagged onto another lost decade, save for 2012.
Galway invested a lot into the Dublin replay. They had a right cut at Kilkenny, to be fair, in the Leinster final but what happens now? We’ve seen it so often where they just can’t respond when they’ve suffered a loss. With Galway, you’d often wonder does a three-week lead into an All-Ireland quarter-final give them too much time to brood. Does any sign of darkness just envelop them?
Galway have also been a little sidetracked with a round of club games. On the other hand, Cork are coming in with real momentum now. They also have a system in place that is working. I wouldn’t in any way say that Jimmy Barry-Murphy has less control, but I’m sure the senior players had a big say in devising a new structure. They had to come up with something different. They were able to try it out against Wexford and they’ve got used to it after beating Clare.
Mark Ellis is working well as a sweeper. Seamus Harnedy is a brilliant operator as a target man inside. I’m still not convinced about the Galway full-back line. If Cork play a sweeper, that will in turn allow Galway to set up with their own sweeper. That would offer the Galway full-back line more protection, but Harnedy still showed against Clare that, even with a sweeper, he can win dirty ball.
I can see Cork going back to conventional methods with a lot of route one ball on top of Harnedy. You have to really admire Conor Lehane and Patrick Horgan as classy finishers, but I feel that they’re really dependent on Harnedy doing a lot of spadework to dig out those chances for them.
Shane O’Neill’s return for Alan Cadogan is another little signal that the shop is going to remain fairly well locked.
I fancy Cork, but the intrigue is added to the unknown anytime Galway are involved in one of these big matches. If we see the Galway of the Leinster final with a real leader in David Collins back, they’ll take stopping.
But they probably don’t even know themselves which side is going to turn up. Their own supporters have the same concerns.
Against Clare, you definitely got the sense the Rebel bandwagon was beginning to roll again. The Galway supporters can be pessimistic at times following a defeat. You’d wonder how many of them will even turn up. I just fancy Cork to stick to their system and to dig out a win.
After the Munster minor final, our seats were just behind the Waterford dugout. I got a good look at Derek McGrath, his management and even the subs. I thought they were all very composed. There was no madness or histrionics from any of them. The moves and switches they made were fluid and precise. They’ve had the experience of a Munster final, but this is still a different dynamic now because Waterford are warm favourites in a big game for the first time all season. That alone is a different challenge.
Waterford will know too that 0-16 is not going to beat Dublin so Derek has questions to ask. Does he go a little more expansive with his set-up? Does he encourage Colin Dunford and Maurice Shanahan to get forward more? I thought the Waterford U21s were set up similarly against Clare 10 days ago and it didn’t work. They kept Shane O’Donnell out of the match but Clare still picked them off from out the field and Waterford didn’t match that scoring rate at the other end because their set-up didn’t fully allow for it.
I just wonder have Waterford tweaked their system slightly since the Munster final because I think they need to if they’re to beat Dublin. The flipside to that observation though, is that it’s very hard for any manager to change now what he has been preaching and working on all year. It might only cause confusion now but Waterford still have to encourage more forwards to play higher up the field.
Ger Cunningham and Dublin will be happy too to slug it out, stay in the contest and try and stick it out like the Limerick game. Their players are used to this type of a game that Waterford will want to play. I also can’t see there being a huge atmosphere given it’s the first match. That could be a factor for Waterford after the big day of the Munster final and I wonder could this lead to a bit of flatness from the Déise?
I saw real signs of resurgence in Danny Sutcliffe in the second half against Limerick. Liam Rushe will sit in the pocket just like Paudie Maher did. Johnny McCaffrey and Ryan O’Dwyer will dig in for war as usual because someone has to take responsibility for the colossus that is Kevin Moran. If Paul Ryan nails all the frees and a few from play like he did against Limerick, Dublin will hit a decent tally. The team the Dubs have announced is missing a fit again Peter Kelly, to my mind if he is fully fit he’s a definite starter. Not starting him could tilt the scales in the league champions’ favour.
Tipp found it hard to break Waterford down but I just said to myself afterwards that 0-16 will not beat Dublin. Even if Waterford clock more scores than they did against Tipp, they’re hardly going to rattle enough digits to be able to burn off the Dubs with the endline still in sight. Waterford will always struggle if they don’t score a goal and they will probably create a chance or two, it’s making sure they put it past Gary Maguire that could decide this contest. The loss of Pauric Mahony was felt too against Tipp because so much of their play is built around hard work, winning frees and him nailing everything.
Austin Gleeson will probably be given a man-marking role on Paul Ryan. He won’t get as much space as he did against Limerick but the Dubs could have enough forwards like Keaney and Schutte who can step up and cause problems.
I’d still give a slight nod to Derek McGrath’s troops to march on.
I just fancy Cork to stick to their system and to dig out a win
