‘Gutted’ Galvin blames first-half mistakes for defeat
If ever anybody sits down to write the sequel, focusing on the county’s footballers’ attempts to win a Munster title, there will surely only be one candidate to grace its cover.
John Galvin has been here before. A year ago he stood in the boardroom in Páirc Uí Chaoimh after running himself into the ground only to ultimately see his side lose by a point to Cork. Then he told the assembled throng of journalists that he was “sick of moral victories” and how he just wanted to win a Munster title.
He is surely deserving of one. Yesterday, he won man-of-the-match and was described by Jack O’Connor as “a serious midfielder” who would get on any team in the country, but personal accolades come a distant second to the elusive medal.
“It is so utterly disappointing,” he said afterwards. “It is another Munster final that we have, not thrown away, but another one that we could have won.
“We had an awful lot of mistakes in the first-half where we gave ball away, kicked wides that we shouldn’t have. We should have been up another five or six points for the amount of ball we had.
“In saying that, they went 1-7 without reply in the second-half and it is very hard to win a game when a team does that.
“When we brought it back level I thought the momentum was with us and we were going to take it. Whoever got the next score was going to take it and unfortunately they got it and they tacked on a bit at the end.
“There are no words for it. It is utterly, utterly disappointing. It is another Munster final lost. It is another year to contemplate trying to get back into another one. I don’t know what to say really, I’m gutted.”
Having worked so hard to get back into the game, kicking 1-4 without reply – Galvin getting a goal and the equalising point – to level at 1-14 each with 11 minutes left, the Shannonsiders looked to have the momentum to record a famous victory before ultimately falling short.
Believing that they were good enough to topple the Kingdom was never a problem in Galvin’s eyes.
“The team isn’t lacking belief, really,” he said, “We have great belief, there is no doubt about that. The truth is we are playing Kerry and they are the All-Ireland champions and we are playing them in their back yard, it was a mountain to climb. I won’t deny it we did believe we were in with a chance coming down here and I still say that if things had gone our way we could have taken them. They had cool heads, even when we went ahead.
“They just kept coming at us. Even when we went up at the start of the first half they tacked on a few points. They are the All-Ireland champions for a reason.”
Limerick manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan described Galvin as “an amazing leader, an amazing player and he leads by example.”
O’Sullivan also praised his side for the effort shown. “You always know that these lads will never lie down – they will keep coming back. They have big hearts. It doesn’t matter where you come from so long as you can get the group of lads believing in themselves, as they do, it’s irrelevant where you come from.
“There is a great sporting tradition in Limerick and they have great belief in themselves. They’ll be back.”
