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.

Look at the detail, however. Defensively Kilkenny were almost unrecognisable from the team we’ve come to know so well, their two regular corner-backs (Paul Murphy and Jackie Tyrrell) swapping positions with the two regular wing-backs (Tommy Walsh and newcomer Kieran Joyce). It worked to a degree, and the Galway attack down the flanks was pretty much blunted, but, as pointed out by Tony Considine in these pages , it was Galway dictating the Kilkenny line-up and the attacking influence of Tommy Walsh especially very much curtailed. Will we see that again? Doubtful.

In midfield Michael Fennelly – current hurler-of-the-year, remember – was only a shadow of his normal self. Is that going to happen again?

Up front, and though five of the six starting forwards did score from play (Colin Fennelly the odd-man-out), only the magnificent Henry Shefflin could be said to have played to his true potential. Is that going to happen again? All these indicators point to Kilkenny retaining their title.

And yet, as they’ve already shown in the Leinster final, if there is one team in Ireland capable of standing up to Kilkenny, it’s Galway. Like Tipperary in 2009 and 2010, not alone have Galway the belief they can match the Cats in every department, they have the ability.

I hope no-one anymore believes Joe Canning was in any way disrespecting Henry Shefflin a couple of weeks ago with those now infamous comments, and especially the unfortunate choice of words in referring to one specific incident– ‘not sportsmanlike’. As was evident from the bulk of that interview Joe sees Henry as a role model. Evident too from our later conversations with all three of the Galway management team, those comments by Joe were not pre-planned

There is huge respect in Galway for Kilkenny and not just for this particular team – for Kilkenny hurling generally. There isn’t any fear, however, and that’s critical. While Anthony Cunningham, Mattie Kenny, Tom Helebert and even Joe Canning himself were all making clear their admiration for Brian Cody, Henry Shefflin and everyone else in Kilkenny, they also made it clear they will not be intimidated.

They might be beaten in the end, they are not beaten before they start. There are those who say Galway lost their chance, that they ‘maxed out’ the last day. No room for improvement? James Regan, Damien Hayes, Cyril Donnellan and David Burke all worked their socks off in attack in the drawn game – none of them scored. Joe disappeared for most of the second-half — that won’t happen again. Galway have all that power and pace, all that hunger, all that incentive to do what no Galway team has done for over 20 years.

I said Kilkenny for the drawn game, said it again at the top here. I’m ready to be wrong.

Verdict: Kilkenny