Tribe working hard not to get lost in occasion

Since 2006, Kilkenny have played Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary in All-Ireland finals.

It was the first All-Ireland final for any of the Limerick and Waterford hurlers who lined out in 2007 and 2008 respectively and in 2009 it was a first final for most of the Tipperary players.

Kilkenny had the upper hand, then, when it came to the pre-final build-up, having soldiered into September for so long.

“The All-Ireland final is always an occasion but we’ve worked very hard to ensure we separate the occasion from the game,” says Galway selector, Tom Helebert.

“We’ve worked very aggressively to get the incidentals out of the way and the players have stayed true and focused to what we’re after.

“They understand the history of Galway, the history of Kilkenny, and they know that moral victories are no good on September 9. We don’t want to come away from Croke Park not having given a big performance.

“The result? We have to wait for the outcome to see what happens but we’re going there very focused on delivering a good performance. That requires us not to get wrapped up in the niceties of the occasion: that’s why spectators pay €80 for a ticket. That’s for them. The game is for us.”

His fellow selector Mattie Kenny is singing from the same hymn sheet. Like Tipperary in 2009, Galway have survivors from their previous final: David Collins, Tony Óg Regan and Damien Hayes all played in their defeat at the hands of Cork in 2005, and Kenny says they’re relying on the experienced voices in the camp.

“The likes of Ogie (Óg Regan), he’s got a very shrewd head on his shoulders and he’s spoken to a few of the lads already about All-Ireland final day.

“One point they’ve made, again and again, is that when they reached the final in 2005, they expected to be there again the next year, and the year after that, but it didn’t work out. When the opportunity comes, you have to take it.

“That’s the message we’re trying to send out — ‘lads, let’s keep the focus on the game, don’t get carried away by the occasion, forget that we’re in an All-Ireland final’.

“Kilkenny showed in the game with Tipperary that they still have that massive hunger and intensity in their game. We’re going to try to bring our game, do what we’re good at, get in the game and perform to the best of our ability. And have a right shot at it.”

Kenny echoes Helebert on treating the game as another match — “We want to try to take the occasion out of it” — and to that end, they’ve been relying on consistency in approach to reinforce that message with the players.

“We’re trying to sell it as another game, another game, another game. That’s all it is, really.

“Our preparation and training has been very consistent before every game, and we’re not doing anything different for this one.

“For example — we concentrated on a bit of fitness work after the Cork game for the first session, then we analysed what we did well and what we didn’t do well in that particular game. After that, we went back to the training ground to analyse that, then back hurling and building up the momentum up to week three before the final, and then tapering down for the game itself in the few days beforehand.”

Because Kilkenny have been there so often — it’s Henry Shefflin’s 12th final — they’re accustomedto winding down as the daysget ticked off to the ninth ofSeptember.

Will Galway advise players to take a bit of time off at the end of this week?

“Our focus is to keep doing the same things we’ve been doing,” says Kenny.

“There are areas we need to improve upon — if we were at this 10 years, there’d still be areas where we need to improve — point out what we’re doing well and to keep doing those while also working on what needs to be improved.

“As for time off or that kind of thing, our preparation for the game will be the same as every other game before this. It’s worked well so far and we’ll concentrate on that approach.”

Michael Moynihan