Venue decision still irking Cunningham

GALWAY boss Anthony Cunningham reiterated his annoyance at been forced to play Tipperary in the All-Ireland U21 HC final at Semple Stadium on Saturday night.

He said: “It wasn’t a level playing field and everybody knows that. It’s not nice to put young players into this environment.”

However he wasn’t using the venue row as an excuse for their heavy defeat, describing Tipperary as “fantastic”.

“We’re going to have to keep driving on these young fellas and hopefully they’ll learn from this evening. There’s nothing you can do or no one you can blame. The couple of late goals for Tipperary put the tin hat on it. It’s hard on the players – these are young guys, only learning their trade. We’ll be pushing them to pick up the pieces and drive on.”

In contrast to the downcast Galway ranks, the Tipperary camp was in celebratory mood.

“We did it in style and thank God we have the cup here now,” stated captain Padraic Maher. “We are very lucky to play the All-Ireland here on our own home ground. It’s an honour to play here in an All-Ireland final.

“We’re thrilled, we can let fly now. We had put the champagne on ice, we can take it out of the ice now.”

Midfielder Seamus Hennessy: “It’s just a tremendous feeling to have won a second All-Ireland in a week. I came on as a sub last week but playing the whole game Saturday makes it special. It wasn’t hard to focus because we knew what the prize was and wanted to win in front of our own supporters.

“It was tough on those Galway lads, I won a Fitzgibbon title with a few of them this year.

“But it’s great times for us.”