Burke: It’s all about finding consistency

For Galway’s David Burke, the Leinster final is history now: it’s all about “getting consistent performances” as he and his colleagues face Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Cork.

“For the supporters it was a big thing alright but we we’re just looking to sweep it under the rug,” he said.

“If you lost you were still in an All-Ireland quarter-final and Kilkenny are still the reigning All-Ireland champions.

“There was a bit of hype for the week but we’ll get back down to earth now. Getting consistent performances in us is the big question. The day we played Kilkenny we got the scores when we needed them and that set us up for a big performance.

“The week after that game there was a lot of talk about it but then there was club championship and a lot of people were talking about that again. There’s was a good few crunch club matches. We’re trying to keep it under wraps. We’re focusing on the semi-final now.”

Burke stresses that Galway manager Anthony Cunningham – his clubmate — was keen to kill the hype afterwards.

“They didn’t want us to get carried away. No better men to do it and Anthony really knows his stuff.

“He was over the club team in Westmeath Garrycastle and did really with them in the football, so he has experience in that sort of thing.

“He hurled with St Thomas himself. He’s now living in Roscommon in St Brigid’s parish. He’s brought a freshness to it this year with Galway and different training methods. The two lads with him are just as good.”

Burke goaled in the Leinster final — “The chance came up and I just went for it. If you’re going to beat Kilkenny, you have to go for goals,” — and can recall the atmosphere at half-time in that game.

“Being 14 points up, we were a bit amazed by it. But you have to get ahead of Kilkenny early on. We knew they’d come back at us thought so we just said we’d try to go out and win the second-half.

Tipperary gave an equally impressive performance in last year’s Munster final but didn’t reach those peaks again. Is there a fear of something similar happening to Galway?

“I suppose consistency is a big thing in Galway.

“Last year especially against Waterford we showed that. We probably play two good matches and then play poor. It’s probably a psychological thing.

“But I think we’re going in the right direction to sorting it out.