Galway have turned corner, says David Burke
While Burke was mindful of what is coming down the tracks, he pointed to how Galway have performed strongly in recent years.
Indeed, since 2014 Kilkenny (four times) and Tipperary (twice) are the only two teams to have beaten them in the championship.
“Flaky” is a word often ascribed to Galway but backing up a good, if not satisfying, first season under Micheál Donoghue last year with league silverware indicates the team have progressed, according to Burke.
“We have turned the corner. Everyone still says, ‘Which Galway is going to turn up?’ but we are consistent and we have been for the last two or three years. We are not up and down anymore.
"We were beaten by better teams, we have no complaints. Tipp were the better team last summer, they showed that in the All-Ireland final but we have bigger fish to fry this summer and we want the big one.”
As best as Burke attempted to play down Sunday’s win over Tipperary and highlighting that Dublin are “hiding behind the scenes” ahead of the Leinster opening clash next month, picking up the first piece of season silverware since 2012 was hugely significant.
“It is important, especially after the setback we had against Wexford. We probably didn’t have enough done and probably under-rated them a small bit, but Davy is doing a savage job.
"They will be hurting as well and will come back strong and make for a good championship down the line. But we came back after that, we didn’t put the heads down, we went all out for the league to see if we could win it.
And it wasn’t looking good, especially when we were 10 points down against Waterford, but we came back from that which was probably the turning point of the league for us.”
Burke revealed Galway were motivated going into Sunday’s final by having not only lost to Tipperary on the scoreboard in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final but in the physical stakes too.
Since Tipperary’s success last September, former backroom member Donoghue has recruited strength and conditioning coach Lukasz Kirszenstein from the All-Ireland champions, seemingly on a full-time basis.
Galway were in a good place at it is but Burke acknowledges the impact the Pole has made.
“Look, maybe lads have got a small bit bigger and stronger and he has brought some new ideas but lads are maybe a bit fitter as a whole in the panel.
"Look, he is a top quality coach, strength and conditioning coach, and he wants to win, like everyone in this set-up, they want to win. He has brought it to another level again.”
As more players seem to be leaving the Dublin panel, Galway’s May 28 date with them in O’Connor Park appears more attractive. Not that Burke is going to admit that.
“They will be waiting and they will have had a good look at us. We have put in a lot of work the past couple of weeks. We will go back to the clubs now and lads might be mentally tired for getting up for games all the time, it is very hard to get yourself mentally prepared all the time.
“There is a possibility we might be a bit flat, so we have to be on our guard against Dublin.
“I remember they did this to us before, we won the league in 2010 and we met Dublin and they knocked us of the Leinster championship so we have to be ready for that.”
To get the latest episode of PaperTalk automatically, SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
