McIntyre ‘in bits’ as pain of Déise defeat deepens

WE’VE all known the blues, those dark doldrumy days when despair is the overriding emotion, all hope suffocated. This past weekend saw an end to the All-Ireland hopes of several teams, hurling and football, teams that had put in Herculean efforts in training since last January individuals – players and management – who had sacrificed so much of their personal time in search of glory.

Galway footballers, downed by Donegal just a week after the last-second loss of their Connacht title, Dublin hurlers beaten by Limerick, having gone into their All-Ireland quarter-final wearing the hard-earned mantle of favourites.

Most disappointed of all, however, the hurlers and the management team of Galway. Six points up on Waterford with 20 minutes to go when disaster struck.

Unforced error, possession turned over, long ball out of defence, goal conceded at the other end, followed very quickly by two Waterford points – devastation.

John McIntyre knows, and knows on the double. He was manager of the Galway team on Sunday but in 1984, GAA centenary year, Tipperary not having won a Munster final since 1971 – he was a player, had been magnificent as Tipp built up a four-point lead with just four minutes remaining, then suffered the agony of watching Cork seize it all away. Talk to John McIntyre, he’ll tell you how it feels.

“I’m in bits, as I expected to be, a reflection I suppose on the effort put in not just by me but by everyone, and everyone – management and players – is absolutely devastated today.

“We’re feeling sorry for ourselves, and it’s going to take a while for us to lick our wounds. The most tormenting aspect of it is that we had the game virtually won and let it slip.

“They were fantastic, pulling the game out of the fire in the way they did. I had been reading a lot of stuff about them all week and it was like an obituary, but they have their pride too; they’re a very experienced team, a seasoned team. They have been through a lot more big matches, and bigger matches, than Galway since 2005, and they didn’t get to last year’s All-Ireland final for nothing either.”

Due deference paid to the winners, however, it was back again to reality, bitter reality. “We’re not going to go down the excuses road – the injuries to Shane Kavanagh and Adrian Cullinane, three matches in 15 days, Galway’s record against Waterford in championship; the bottom line is that the game was there for Galway to win and we just weren’t clinical enough or ruthless enough to complete the job.”

What happens to Galway now? When does the pain end, the healing start, hope and energy renewed for 2010?

“I don’t know, still too disappointed to even think about that, but whatever is required this management team is prepared to do it.

“I would imagine that within the next six weeks to two months there will be a root and branch examination of everything we’ve done – what we did right, what we did wrong, what we’ve got to cut out, what we’ve got to do to bridge the gap.

“Mistakes have been made but no-one knows that better than the players themselves; they’re mature young men, they’ve given their heart and soul for Galway this year. We’re all in a dark, desolate place this week and will be for some weeks to come.

“What happened to them smacks of my own experience with Tipperary in the Munster final of 1984, four points up with four minutes to go, beaten by four – there’s not a week goes past that I don’t see Seánie O’Leary and Tony O’Sullivan scoring those late goals for Cork, and that defeat as a player will torment me to the grave.

“Sunday’s defeat for Galway could have similar repercussions. That’s the down side of it all – seven days earlier we were all being lauded for the great win over Cork, the supporters thrilled; in just one week you go from a very great high, to a very low.”