Selfless Kilkenny win because they expect to win

I’d love to have been in both dressingrooms at half-time yesterday because I can almost picture both scenarios. 

I know what Galway must have felt like, because I’ve been in that position against Kilkenny a few times, high on adrenaline and optimism. I’m sure Galway were almost thinking, “This is it”. And yet the other crowd down the corridor were thinking, “This isn’t good enough”.

I heard Jackie Tyrrell took over the dressing room and gave an inspirational speech. To me, that summed up the selflessness of Jackie, and the selflessness of Kilkenny. Jackie was bound to have been disappointed he wasn’t starting. He might have been down in himself having got injured before the semi-final but he wasn’t thinking about any of that stuff. He suppressed his ego because egos are not entertained in the squad. They just look at the bigger picture. Jackie was only looking at the bigger picture.