‘Chokers’ jibe angers manager

A righteous delivery is how Micheál Donoghue framed this victory and few could dispute him although we may have to wait for the dust to settle for him to point out exactly who were calling Galway “chokers” in the build-up to yesterday.

Regardless of who said or wrote it, Donoghue gleaned satisfaction from answering those who had dared to contest the fortitude of his group.

“They have been questioned and doubted so many times, even in the build-up to the game, there were still references that they were chokers.

“Nobody came out and said, ‘These boys showed huge resilience’ and today, we knew coming up that we were in with a serious chance. We had a few setbacks in the first-half but the character and unity and everything that is built in this squad was shown in abundance.”

Donoghue acknowledged there had been pressure on Galway to make the most of this opportunity given they had been told there was no better time as Cork, Kilkenny, and Tipperary had been beaten previously.

“It’s always there. I think one of the biggest strengths we got off each other is we really excluded everything outside of our own circle and outside of our own dressing room. We couldn’t control what was being said or what people were saying about the team.

“Of course, there was going to be pressure, we’d gotten to the final again and I suppose if we didn’t win again... the biggest thing for me was that if we didn’t win today... and knowing the effort, sacrifice, and commitment these boys had put in, and what they would face next week if they’d lost today. So it wasn’t about the pressure on me or the team, it was just how these boys had been questioned year after year and, as I said, the resilience they had shown.

“At the start of the year we had our goals, we took one step at a time right throughout the year and everything we asked of them they bought into. We were in a serious frame of mind coming up today and we knew we were in with a serious shout.”

On an exceptional day of shooting for Galway, Donoghue knew striking from distance would be important against Waterford.

“Throughout the whole year, we have encountered different systems and different sweepers and the lads always had the capability of shooting from outside. And even today, it was about ensuring we had the right lads out the field that were capable of taking scores. Thankfully, that paid off.

“But I think we got a great start and once the confidence starts growing, and the belief gets bigger and bigger in the players, they are not afraid to shoot. But to shoot, you have to be capable and we certainly have those players.”

For the fourth game in succession, Galway failed to raise a green flag but it mattered little. “I think early on in the league we weren’t too bad,” remarked Donoghue on that record, “but I think it’s just the way teams set up against us. It’s not that we said ‘if we don’t score goals we can score points from outside.’ We’d have loved to have scored a goal or two (in the final) to make it easier on ourselves.

“As I alluded to earlier, we have the players that have that capability and once you keep the scoreboard ticking over the whole time, I think maybe our score to creation ratio was really, really high and that’s testament to the quality of players we have.”

Regarding Johnny Glynn’s return to the first team which didn’t work out as well as Donoghue might have hoped, he said: “Yeah, it was a big call on our behalf starting Jonathan. He had gone really well the last couple of weeks in training and when the team was announced on Friday night, just to illustrate the character, the unity and spirit that is in this squad, Niall Burke went over to him and wished him well and empty the tank and that he would come and do the job.

“That’s a fair testament to the man and he stuck to his word, he came on and made a massive impact.”

For a season that ended on a high against Waterford, that league quarter-final win over them in Salthill was effectively the start of it.

“The Waterford game was a huge game, especially the fact they came up probably not with a full strength side and we ended up down 10 points on two occasions. But I think that was the real start of the boys taking ownership. I’ll never forget being on the sideline and hearing the vocals between themselves, and the encouragement.

“They didn’t die or they didn’t drop the heads. It was huge, coming back from 10 points twice gave us a huge lift and huge motivation.

“I think when you look back at it, we got serious momentum from that game. Coming into the league semi-final we had trained exceptionally well, we probably had our best 15 aside game of the whole year coming into the league semi-final. Everything started just falling right into place for us. Our mantra all year was just ‘the next game, the next session’ and everybody bought into it. It’s sweet today, I’ll tell you.”