Hard work only way forward for Galway

Work, work and more work: the basic but vital ingredients Anthony Cunningham will demand from his players to ensure Galway push on again in 2013.

Over the winter, the losing All-Ireland hurling final manager heard his football counterpart, Mayo boss James Horan, claim his side have so much more to offer, as much as a 40% improvement.

Delivering on that potential is what Horan believes will close the gap at the head of the football title race. And it’s much the same for Cunningham, whose team came even closer to All-Ireland success in their code after taking Kilkenny to a final replay.

“I heard those comments from James, we too would hope there is a lot more there in Galway,” said Cunningham. “We are going to put more work into training, more work into lifestyle, more work into coaching, the medical side, every aspect really.

“We have done a lot of work already in the background for the last couple of months. Psychologically too we have got to deal with those pressures after last year but we will be leaving all that outside our camp and just concentrating on our training and our games.”

The Leinster champions will take their first competitive steps in 2013 this Sunday when they meet Carlow in the quarter-finals of the Walsh Cup.

With little in the way of retirements and the additions of Shane Kavanagh and Aonghus Callanan, it is a question of picking up from last year.

“And there’s a hunger in players to push on, absolutely, no hangover,” said Cunningham. “All the players, when they would have reflected on the year, they were so delighted to get what they got out of the year.

“Now it’s how much you can build on that. Last year is no good unless we build on it this year and building on it is one more step forward.”