Galway need 100% improvement to beat Cork, says Murphy

HAVING watched Kilkenny demolish Tipperary in the first of the All-Ireland minor hurling championship semi-finals last Sunday, Galway coach Mattie Murphy wouldn’t relish playing the Cats in the final.

For that to happen however his charges must see off Cork in the second semi-final tomorrow, and that too is a game Murphy is worried about.

“If we don’t improve 100% on the form we displayed against Wexford in the quarter-final, we needn’t turn up against Cork because they’ll annihilate us”, said Murphy.

“We did well to get the result over Wexford, having been forced to play the last five minutes with 13 players, and I suppose it showed we do have players with quality, but overall it was not a great performance.

“To be fair it was our first championship outing. It’s always a huge draw back to Galway teams to go into the championship with no competitive matches, so from that point of view winning a first round is crucial to the development of your team.

“The win over Wexford should give the lads the necessary confidence going into tomorrow’s game, but you never know with minors. Playing in Croke Park before a huge crowd and with very few of your own supporters there to cheer you on, can be very intimidating for minors.

“Having said that we have a reasonably good record against Cork at this level. While they beat us well in last year’s quarter-final, we have won more games against them in recent years which includes the 2006 semi-final when they were Munster champions, but it’s asking a lot of this team to repeat that tomorrow.

“We’ll need a massive improvement in form from the Wexford game. If we don’t get it, it will be all over for us”, he said.

Not surprisingly, Cork have named an unchanged side. Coach Ger Manley and his selectors were quite happy with their charges against Tipperary in the Munster final, and according to Manley, that team deserves to start again.

Manley also believes Galway will be an entirely different proposition tomorrow than they were against Wexford.

“Watching them that day I felt they played quite well, they are very tough in defence and we’ll earn our scores, while midfield is another strong area for them.

“As that game wore on Galway got better and better and you have to hand it to them. Despite playing the last five minutes with 13 players, they scored two very late points to win the match. That’s a very good sign of a team.

“They introduced a couple of very good subs that day in Thurles which showed they have strength in depth, and they won’t be easily beaten tomorrow.

“Our form against Tipperary in the Munster final was good, but we’ll have to step up on that if we are to win.

“There is no back door here now. When we last won the Munster final back in 2006, Galway put us out in the All-Ireland quarter-final. I don’t want a repeat of that tomorrow”.

This will be Cork’s fourth outing in the championship and it should give the Munster champions the edge.