Gritty Galway have the hunger, but Kilkenny still get the vote

On cold, logical examination of what happened in the drawn game , Kilkenny must be favoured to win tomorrow’s All-Ireland SHC final replay. Don’t go running to the bookies yet, though.

Let’s look at that game three weeks ago. First, the Kilkenny start. They got the first point, a Henry Shefflin free in the 5th minute. They held Galway scoreless til the 9th minute – again a positive. Thereafter though, and up to the 32nd minute, at which point they trailed 1-8 to 0-4, they were hanging on, But hang on they did, Henry leading the way.

By half-time the deficit was down to five (1-9 to 0-7), and 19 minutes into the second-half a now-dominant Kilkenny took the lead. Galway then stemmed the bleeding, a fortunate bounce of the ball favouring Niall Burke who goaled. Thereafter, we had a match again.