Cork can wait as Galway savour the moment

THEY obviously knew something the rest of us didn’t in Galway last week.

For the Tipperary game, the county board was able to offload less than 3,000 tickets. For yesterday’s they moved around 11,000. Even accounting for the shot in the arm that was their quarter-final win, it was a massive leap of faith from a band of supporters that has voted with their feet by staying away more often than not this past few years.

Now, the scramble for All-Ireland final tickets will resemble the ‘49 Californian gold rush after yesterday’s rollicking afternoon that threw up more plot twists than the most outrageous of Hollywood story lines.

Captain Liam Donoghue was a ball of adrenalin as he made his way down the tunnel, leaping onto every colleague he could find before swallowing them with the most uninhibited of bear hugs.

“We’ve nothing won yet,” he stated baldly, “but we’ll just enjoy the day that’s in it. It’s a fantastic day for Galway hurling considering all the criticisms we’ve had this past couple of years.

“We knew we’d have to pull out all the stops, and I’m just very proud of all the lads.

“They did everything anyone could expect of them. When we got a sniff we took it. Honestly, I think we deserved it this year.”

Not only does the win catapult them into a first All-Ireland final in four years, it also exorcises the memories of last year’s 19-point defeat to Kilkenny that was central to this year’s modest expectations.

Donoghue shrugged aside suggestions that thoughts of revenge should be needed to augment anyone’s performance in an All-Ireland semi-final but Ger Farragher accepted that it had to have played a part.

“I wasn’t there,” said the Castlegar kid, who only joined the panel this year, “but there was no way the rest of those boys were coming off that pitch beaten today.

“Hopefully we’ve proved the critics wrong. It’s still only a semi-final win but we’re getting there.”

That they are and Farragher’s contribution is helping blaze the trail. Prior to yesterday, he had 1-40 clocked up in this year’s competition, but his 2-9 was, he accepted, his best ever performance in a Galway shirt.

Even with that and Niall Healy’s three goals, they only breasted the finishing tape a whisker ahead of Kilkenny but Farragher didn’t seem interested in buying into the theory that Galway made it difficult on themselves.

“It was never going to be easy against Kilkenny. No matter how much you go ahead they’re always going to come back. They’re a super team, they weren’t up at the top for nothing this last number of years. On the day, we got the bit of luck and came out on the right side of it.”

Both Farragher and Healy were bashful to the extreme by the gushing praise directed at them after the game but Ollie Canning had no such qualms about singling out them and one or two others for their input on a day when most Galway players played to a peak.

“The full-forward line were able to pull it out of the bag there on a few occasions.

“They got the goals when we really needed them. Kilkenny came back very strong in the last few minutes, bringing a big lead back down to three or four points, but Kevin Broderick got a wonderful point and that was the cushion we needed.”

And how they needed their cushions.

“We knew Kilkenny would start to come back at us and they started to chip away with a few points towards the end,” said Canning.

“Kevin’s point after he came on was crucial because it meant they had to start dropping balls down into us and we were lucky enough to clear a few when they did come in.

“Fair play to the lads and the management at half-time as well. We never let the heads go down.

“We knew we were after letting them back into it by conceding those two goals, but that’s the way it goes.

“We probably got a goal or two ourselves from a few mistakes they made. That’s all part of the game.”

The challenge now is to scale an even bigger mountain, to re-calibrate their sights for the All-Ireland final against a Cork team that has itself stood up to so much buffeting against Waterford and Clare.

“We’re going to enjoy this day and we’ll go back training during the week and get set for Cork,” said Canning.

“We know Cork are the top team in the country and we have a lot of work to do still.”