Cathal Murray: We knew we’d have to run ourselves into the ground and we did

The Tribe bounced back from last year's final defeat to clinch the championship victory.

RTE’s Marty Morrissey with Galway captain Carrie Dolan and manager Cathal Murray. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

Galway manager Cathal Murray said there was huge hurt in the Galway camp after last year’s three-point defeat to Cork and it provided one of the motivation factors for Sunday’s All-Ireland success.

“Cork were the better team last year. We got most things right and put in a massive, massive performance and probably didn’t take our opportunities at the finish. We were probably never going well, always struggling, even through the group stages.

“We really targeted the Dublin game at the start of this championship. We’ve grown and grown. This year, we have huge belief because we beat Dublin, Derry, Kilkenny in Nowlan Park, Waterford, we beat Tipperary by seven or eight points in the semi-final. You’re battle-hardened coming into an All-Ireland final and you know if it comes down to moments like that you have the players to step up.

“They are an unbelievable bunch. I know we won two All-Irelands in ’19 and ’21. You want to kick on and win a third. A third All-Ireland means so much to this group. We’ve won three All-Irelands now in seven years.

“Aoife (Donohue), Starry (Annmarie), Ailish (O’Reilly) are picking a fourth All-Ireland medal - that doesn’t happen around Galway, they’re like hens' teeth.

“We knew training was on the money for the last eight, or nine or 10 weeks. We just backed ourselves.” 

Murray also pointed to an article in Saturday’s Irish Examiner.

“We were written off completely. The Irish Examiner yesterday, any Galway person or player reading that - our player ratings - go back and read it and it is absolutely fucking insulting. I thought it was the biggest insult ever. But that is coming out for the last week, two weeks, we were given no chance.

"We knew we were three points off in 2023, and three points off last year.

"Small percentages.” 

Their league form, it transpired, was also misleading.

“We probably got to the league final because other teams probably didn’t do their job. We were never really going at full pelt, we won two or three of our games by just a point or two. We probably didn’t have the work done, that was down to ourselves as management, there were different things in the camp that weren’t in place in time.

“We went back late, we just needed that break after last year, it was so gutting. I probably said I was stepping away in the dressing room last year after the match, but in the two or three days after it, the team, you just knew there was such a good group of players there and a real bond. There was no giving out, there were no people feeling sorry for themselves. It was disappointing, but they took it on the chin as a team.

“They’ve just been exceptional, since we played Tipperary back in a challenge match in early June, we’ve just been exceptional since. Thank God we pulled it off today, it could have gone either way – Cork are unbelievable champions, they’re an incredible team. To come within a puck of a ball to winning three in a row, it’s hard on them today but I’ve huge respect for them.

“I’ve huge respect for the management. To be down to 14 players just before half time, and give the performance they gave in the second half. Their selector said it to me there, we [Galway] played unbelievable. We had to play unbelievable. It’s a mark of how good they are. We’re just delighted for ourselves, as I said, that third All-Ireland – it’s just, I don’t know, does it copper fasten how good we’ve been. Three All-Ireland’s in seven years is massive.” 

The difference in the end was Carrie Dolan’s monster free from out the field and by the sideline.

“Some way to win it, obviously when you’re on the back foot which you were for a lot of the second half to be honest with you. When they levelled it with the goal, it was a massive point in the game that puck-out, and that resilience to win it. But we’ve shown that resilience all year to be honest with you.

“We are four players down from last year’s All-Ireland final - missing the likes of Niamh Kilkenny, Niamh Hanniffy, Niamh McPeake, Áine Keane. Róisín Black missed most of the year. Ailish O’Reilly was missing for the last two group games which were massive games.

“Girls just stepped up at different moments. We were probably guilty ourselves last year of not using our bench enough. I thought the bench made a massive impact today. I thought Sabina (Rabbitte) made a huge impact. Everyone, Jennifer (Hughes), Emma (Helebert) came out with two great balls and Ally (Hesnan).

“Listen, we knew we’d have to battle. We knew we’d have to run ourselves into the ground and we did.

“That was the moment, Carrie’s free and I’m delighted for her. She is our leader for a reason, she is captain for a reason, she is a leader. It’s moments like that we value her so much.” While he did consider walking away after last year’s final, his mind changed.

“I don't know if it was a couple of days after, you know, but that was a big part of it. Maybe unfinished business,” he said. “When we look back on it, as management, we felt we got an awful lot right. The players, they just performed unbelievable, and there's always just that regret that it just wasn't the right time to walk away.

“Obviously, we're proved right now.

“I'm training some of the best players that will ever play camogie for Galway. And that's a massive place to be. We've been in 11 finals out of a possible 13 in the last seven years. We've been in Croke Park so many times, I'm living the dream, to be honest with you.

“But like, I have two young kids at home - nine months and three and a half. On a Monday and a Wednesday, I'm leaving, I owe an awful lot to my wife, Ashling, she's putting two kids to bed, I'm going off training, you know, so, listen, for me, I absolutely love this, but, you know, young family at home, so obviously there's something I have to discuss there, and something I have to talk about.

“Working with these is just incredible, but it is hard on the family as well, and as I said, I owe a huge amount to my wife, but it's a savage job and I just love doing it.”