Seán Silke: I think every year is going to be Galway’s year

"It will happen again for Galway — it’s just a matter of time."

Little did Seán Silke think, when he made that statement in a 1994 interview, that the wait for Galway’s next All-Ireland title would have ticked along to 27 years.

As a player, Silke had plenty of tough days in maroon before the success arrived in 1980. He’d lost All-Irelands in 1975 and ‘79 and went on to lose another in ‘81. Seven seasons, four finals and one Celtic Cross... the current crop of Tribesmen would probably take that return.

“I think every year is the year,” said Silke. “We thought we had it cracked in 2001, ’05, ’12, and especially in for the replay. The margins are very small and there’s very little between the teams.

“We are catching up a little bit but we are very fortunate that we have put systems in place further back from juvenile onwards and if we can retain players and the transition from minor to U21 to senior, we have to really look at that to see if we can make that happen a bit better.

“I don’t think there is any one thing, it is host of things that you need to get right. We could be talking today and we could have won the 2012 All-Ireland, it was just a very, very small margin.”

Kilkenny were responsible for the first two losses Silke endured in All-Ireland finals. The first 70-minute final in 1975 saw Brian Cody make his first winning start in an All-Ireland; in 1979, the Cats had their number again, but those final defeats just mirrored Galway form against Kilkenny at that time.

In Silke’s Galway career, stretching from 1972 to 1984, he was never on a team that beat Kilkenny in the championship as six defeats were doled out.

In the mid 80s the Tribesmen managed to put back-to-back wins against Kilkenny together, including that 1987 win in the final, and since then, there has been no fear of the famous shirt.

“The environment back then, I think the supporters’ belief that Galway could really beat Kilkenny was somewhat low. Whereas in 1987, we beat Kilkenny and the belief was there because the lads had done it at underage continuously, they had done it and they had beaten Kilkenny in the league.

“So there was no fear there and I think the supporter base believed in them a bit more. For us, it happened and we learned a little bit from the defeats.

“It has often been uttered from the Kilkenny camp that Galway are the one team they tend to fear. The unpredictability of what Galway will show up makes them hard to define, but Silke believes any time Kilkenny have been hoodwinked, they have gone away and learned from defeat.

The Meelick clubman was Galway’s coach in 2005 and 2006 under Conor Hayes, and by then, the Cats had remoulded themselves after defeat to Galway in 2001 with consecutive All-Ireland wins.

“If Kilkenny had stayed where they were and retained the style of hurling that they had in the late 90s and moving into the 2000s, there is no way they would be the power they are now.

“They have retained a lot of the tradition but everything is changed: the physique; the mobility of the players; the skill level,” he said.

The teams meet for the sixth time in the Leinster championship tomorrow, with the 2012 provincial final win Galway’s only triumph in that time, while they have tasted two draws and an All-Ireland final defeat against them since they joined Leinster in 2009. Silke sees a fully fit Joe Canning as key tomorrow.

“Joe will have a big say in things. Joe Canning is just a terrific hurler. We are blessed to live in the era we have seen Henry Shefflin who would be one of the greats. Then JJ Delaney who was probably my top hurler, one of the best I have ever seen.

“And you take Joe Canning. Canning is in the Joe Cooney mould and Joe Cooney was good, Joe Cooney was brilliant. Canning is key.”