Micheál Donoghue: We had lucky escape in Carlow

Micheál Donoghue knows how Galway’s February draw with Carlow was framed in some quarters.

The 2017 All-Ireland champions started just six of the players who had claimed the Liam MacCarthy for them two Septembers before, their ranks weakened by injuries and players abroad and the path St Thomas’s were taking to their own All-Ireland decider.

Add that to the at times dismissive view of Carlow as a hurling county and it was all too easy to dismiss the stalemate at Cullen Park as a one-off for a vulnerable superpower who likely took their opposition a tad lightly.

Donoghue doesn’t give that any truck at all.

“Genuinely, no,” said the Galway manager ahead of the sides’ Leinster Championship meeting at Pearse Stadium this weekend. “I know you probably want me to say they were (a surprise), but they have made massive progress. They are good hurlers.”

Galway were never led in a game that finished 0-20 apiece but they were caught on the line when Carlow star forward Matty Kavanagh landed his 11th point — 10 of which came from frees — deep into injury-time.

It was the least they that deserved having already run Dublin to six points in their Division 1B opener and, while Waterford would inflict a heavy beating in round three, Colm Bonnar’s charges would ultimately secure their stay in the division for another spring.

“We went down under no illusions but that they had made massive strides over the last 18 months.” Donoghue added.

“Colm has an unbelievable track record himself so we knew it was going to be a big challenge in terms of giving some lads experience in that environment.

Probably near the end, I’d say we were lucky to come out with a draw but held on. There was elements of it that we wouldn’t have been happy with but, testament to them, once they started hurling in the second half, they were formidable.

“It was a massive learning experience for some of our lads. I don’t think it is going to count for much this time. Championship is massively different to league for all the teams.”

Bonner has said as much himself, admitting that Carlow ensured they were at peak levels for the league in the knowledge that some of the game’s big guns would still only be limbering up, but Galway mined plenty from the secondary competition themselves.

Games against Carlow, Laois, and Offaly did allow them that extra bit of space to breathe and experiment with new faces, which was no bad thing given they returned to the All-Ireland final last September with the same 14 outfield players from the year before.

All told, the number of players used hit the mid-30s.

“We knew from late in the year that we wouldn’t have a number of players so it was an opportunity right from the off to look at lads and give them as much game time as we could.

“Obviously you don’t like going out at the semi-final stage as we did but, at that stage, you are involved in your championship preparations as well so we played two rounds of the club over a two-week period as well. Once that was finished, it was all about the championship.”