Galway not likely to stop Kilkenny’s march to final

NOBODY knows what to expect from Galway when they confront holders Kilkenny in this afternoon’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final in Croke Park.

All we have to go on is evidence of their meeting at the same stage in Thurles last year. Kilkenny went on an early scoring spree and led by 17 points after 11 minutes of the second half before Galway came back with a vengeance. At the end a mere five points separated the teams.

Ger Loughnane has done a lot of talking since he took over the team from Conor Hayes last winter. Most recently, he was seen to be “stirring it” in his native county in advance of their qualifier in Ennis and since then he has insulted Kilkenny with insinuations about their tackling.