More in the Galway locker, says Johnny Coen

More in the Galway locker, says Coen It might be considered overconfidence on one hand — or deemed a warning to Clare on the other — but there’s nothing arrogant in Johnny Coen’s tone or words.

When he says Galway can produce even more than what they delivered in that dashing first half of the Leinster final replay against Kilkenny, he means it.

Sustaining it is the mission but then they had been challenged by what they failed to do in the drawn game at the start of the month.

“Looking back on the first game in particular, we were fierce unhappy with the way we performed. A lot of us were substandard.

“We all know that individually. We don’t need any managers or anyone from the outside telling us that.” 

“We wanted to make sure that we set the record straight. We looked at our own performance. We looked at the team performance and we said that we weren’t going to leave any stone unturned this time round.

“As players, we feel we have a lot to give. There’s an awful lot in our locker in terms of our strength and physicality and all of that, and it’s about bringing out a performance in 70 minutes.”

But Galway’s history at this stage suggests Saturday will be a tight affair.

“If you look back over the last three years when Galway were playing in semi-finals, there has only been a point in it and that point has been scored in injury-time. If you can’t sustain the level of aggression and the level of hurling for the full 70 minutes, you are not really going to progress to the All-Ireland.

“The first 20 minutes (in the provincial final replay) was electric alright but the concession of the goal before half-time was crucial. There were stages there in the second half when Kilkenny really go the run on us and we were just lucky really that the lads who came on got a few points there and we sealed the victory in the end.”

If there was a question hanging over Galway’s hunger after the Croke Park game, it was deleted following the replay in Thurles. However Coen never felt it was collectively on the wane.

“You are growing up as a young fella and you are dreaming about winning an All-Ireland. When the dream was achieved, you are saying why can’t you do it again?

“Why would you be happy with just the one? You don’t know what is around the corner. There could be anhorrific injury, and anything could happen. So you just have to live for the moment and try to get the most out of life in general.”

Not that Coen considered Conor Cooney any less a target man but he admits the presence of Johnny Glynn at full-forward is a fillip.

“It was well documented that we were leaned out of it as such by the Kilkenny full-back line in particular, and we did take a certain amount of learnings from the drawn game. Johnny Glynn was definitely a good option I suppose — and he justified the decision too.

“You see Johnny Glynn there, given his chance, he is really grabbing it and Conor Cooney an All-Star was unfortunate not to start again, but that’s the level the team are at, and the level we are performing at.

“If I am not doing my job, it’s going to someone else. If you are not performing, someone else is going to do it.” 

As accomplished as he is, Micheál Donoghue wouldn’t strike most as a ruthless operator and Coen backs up that perception.

“Micheál has brought a lot to the table since he has come in. He has a very good calmness about him. He doesn’t tend to get too excited on match day or anything like that.

“He has his preparation done prior to that and we believe in what he is doing. And he is a good man-manager as well. If you are under pressure or anything like that, be it work or commitments elsewhere, he is quite understanding as well.”

Both Galway and Cork have won back-to-back provincial titles but under different structures and the Loughrea man envisages some tinkering with the round-robin system in the future.

“The imbalance in terms of the amount of games you play in a row is one thing they will have to look at. The five teams in the group causes logistical problems, in the sense that you could be playing four weeks in a row and then a week off, three weeks and then one off, and so on.

“Ideally, you would look at two matches, a week or two off and then another two just to keep the level playing field. Logistically with five teams, you would have to sit down and do the permutations and all that, but that would be an area really.

“The aim must be to keep a level playing field for everyone.”