Damian Curley: Maturing Galway ready to give it a lash

The Galway hurlers have matured this summer, selector Damian Curley believes.

After reaching the 2012 All-Ireland decider, capturing a first Leinster title in the process, the county’s form plummeted during the following two seasons - Anthony Cunningham’s men managing a miserly one championship win last year.

Their comprehensives conquests of Dublin, Laois and Cork has returned the westerners to August fare and Curley attributed a first semi-final appearance since 2012 to the fact players have stepped out from the shadow of the older guard.

“I have seen a maturity that has come, particularly to the guys who are 25, 26 or 27,” said Curley.

“They have realised they have to step up and be leaders, that we can’t be relying on David Collins, Andy Smith and Fergal Moore all the time.

“From that point of view, I would say the mood is good and we are in a good position to give the semi-final a right good lash.”

The Galway selector described the quarter-final hammering of Cork as “confidence-building”, but insists they’ve still to produce a sustained 70-minute effort.

“It is nearly as nice to have had the run through the quarter-final. Obviously, it was fraught with danger after losing the Leinster final but having got the car back on the road, it was great to have that game.

“Obviously the result was a confidence-building one.

“The amount of wides, however, was the number one concern. The only thing I would say on that is at least we were creating the chances, but you know in a tighter game we would need to be a lot more clinical.

“And even though the final result was pretty comprehensive, there was a time in the game after the Cork sending-off where they came back into the game and Colm Callanan had to bring a good save off. That would have brought it back to two points and who knows what might have happened after that.

“So, again, that little bit of a switching-off period is a bit of a worry as well.

“No matter who we play from here on in these big games, it is going to have to be for 74 or 75 minutes.”

In stark contradiction to Anthony’s Cunningham’s ‘we’ll see you in September’ message to Brian Cody after the Leinster final, Curley reckons the Tribesmen are in bonus territory.

“A lot of pundits might have predicted Cork would win the quarter-final and I suppose we came along and we blew that out of the water. We also got the Thurles thing off our back.

“I suppose, to a certain extent, we are kind of in bonus territory at the moment and, you know, we have nothing to lose in this game. Tipp will be expecting to be in the final. They turned us over last year, but we were well in that game for long periods.

“The fact we played three big games in 13 days probably got to us a little bit at the end of that one. I’d say we are in with a great shout in this one, but Tipp will be favourites alright.”

Eamon O’Shea’s side edged their most recent meeting back in February, with two soft goals directly after half-time handing Tipperary the initiative. Curley revealed how the players are reminded of the game each time they return to the dressing room for the interval break. “We probably did learn from it and it would be a big talking point at half-time every day, that in the first five minutes in the second-half we steady the ship again and don’t let in any crucial goals like that.”