Kenny: Tactics overdone

“Hurling is not an exact science. We need to be careful that we understand that.

You’ve got to have players with intelligence who can think on their feet, who play with their heads up. They’ve got to be able to adjust themselves to what’s happening around them. It can’t be as system-driven as football or soccer or rugby – sometimes it’s just natural instinct.”

The above statement could have come straight from the Kilkenny Coaching Manual, edited by Brian Cody. It’s not. It’s from Mattie Kenny, one of the triumvirate behind the Galway team that takes the field on Sunday against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final replay.

But there’s more from Kenny along those lines.

“Ultimately it’s the players on the pitch. They must show the desire to get on the ball. They must show the desire to make things happen. To a large extent tactics go out the window.

“You’re giving the players guidelines, a direction, but you’re also giving them license. Players are the ones who have to make things happen. They have to show that desire, that competitiveness, that willingness to get on the ball, to break to the tackle or whatever.

“You can’t get too tied up in tactics or formations or systems. It’s all about the team, the 15 individuals gelling as a team and wanting to get on the ball, wanting to make something happen. Systems and formations and tactics won’t win matches. It’s individuals and teams, it’s their desire.

“In the All-Ireland final Kilkenny showed more desire to win than they did in the Leinster final. The next day Kilkenny are capable of saying ‘we really, really want this’ and blowing away the opposition. That’s where tactics go out the window and where individual desire takes over.”

The trio, which also includes manager Anthony Cunningham and Tom Helebert, have their own inputs but Mattie headlines the coaching duties. This, however, is as refreshing and as honest an attitude as you’ll come across.

Not that Galway don’t analyse and construct a plan. They have broken down the mistakes from the drawn final.

“We’d be looking at the different scenarios. How did we fail? Where was our defensive line set up because there was a bit of a disconnect between our defence and our attack? We’ve got to look at how we can link that better for the next day. Maybe we were defending too deep. Our deliveries out of defence, our ball retention.”

One aspect in particular Mattie will be looking at to ensure it doesn’t happen again is why Joe Canning’s influence waned for most of the second half as Henry Shefflin’s grew.

“Irrespective of what sport you’re playing you want to have your top players on the ball. That’s something we’ve got to work on. Make sure we keep all our forwards attacking and keep our key forwards on the ball. I’m not going to say how we plan to do that the next day but we will be looking at it and analysing it, the adjustments we need to make.”

In Galway’s semi-final win over Cork they got fair warning of Joe’s tendency to disappear from the area he poses his greatest threat from. Not just Joe either. Many in the Galway attack were marked absent.

“You’re right, we’ve noted that,” Mattie accepted.

“When you analyse it, is it our over-willingness to work? Is it that tactically we’re moving too far back? There’s a number of different answers, a number of different contributory factors. As a management team what we want to see is our players are willing to work.

“When Kilkenny were pushing that meant we had to defend more strongly and the willingness of our forwards, of our top half, to work back meant Kilkenny were pulling us away from the goals. Maybe it was just our honesty that was doing it rather than any conscious tactical decision to move everything back 20 yards or whatever. Sometimes it’s just a natural instinct for players to fall back. Sometimes players have to make their own decisions.”

It’s not just about learning fast though, it’s about learning better.