Stakes even higher as Galway bid to finish the job

Nobody is any the wiser. The Galway hurlers looked deep within themselves in the closing minutes of last week's physical encounter against Kilkenny and produced a staggering 3-3 to earn an unlikely reprieve.

The late rush of scores and the extraordinary grace-under-pressure points by Henry Shefflin and Joe Canning instantly elevated the match into the series of explosive classics which the counties have produced in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007, 2009 and 2012.

Galway and Kilkenny seem incapable of winning in a tedious way against each other. But the late thrill disguised the gruelling intensity of the previous hour. It was, at heart, a tough match. The fact that they came through a test like that undefeated is what Galway hurling people have been concentrating on throughout the week.

“I suppose it is a confidence boost number one,” says PJ Molloy. Galway’s All-Ireland-winning forward and senior selector was among those who travelled to Tullamore last weekend unsure of what to expect. The truth is nobody in Ireland knew how Galway would perform.

Hurling county

“People were downbeat after the Laois game. But how bad are Laois? Laois are something like Offaly were in the 1980s. Laois is a good hurling county. Okay, they ran Galway tight but they had a few championship matches played. Games are important.”

In Molloy's era, Galway teams seemed to have mastered the art of coming cold into the All-Ireland semi-finals and hurling in an absolute tempest. On television last Sunday, Cyril Farrell, the manager of those great teams, admitted his county had become an enigma in terms of championship hurling. They went in hope on Sunday and a considerable minority left O'Connor Park early unwilling to watch Galway fall to another big beating. Those who stayed were stunned and overjoyed.

Huge difference

“The substitutes that Galway brought on seemed to work while Kilkenny brought on substitutes to give them a run and it seemed to backfire a small bit,” Molloy says.

"Young Jonathan Glynn had a great second half and made a huge difference. His ball winning ability was brilliant. Very creative. Joseph Cooney had a hand in the two last goals; he linked with Joe Canning for Conor Cooney's first goal and and he passed across the square for the second one. Another young fella would have tried to blast it himself but no, he was thinking like the auld fella and he just crossed it – Joe would do the same thing."

For all that, the Galway carnival returns to the Midlands this evening with questions. Not negative questions, but still.

Kilkenny’s swift and economic construction of a 1-8 to 0-0 run in just ten minutes of the second half would have been the defining act of the game had Galway and Canning not gone supernova. How did that happen in a match where the teams had been going score-for-score?

Also, a one-off hurling performance of beautiful fury from Galway has become part of the Irish summer. Can they return to Tullamore tonight in the same frame of mind as they brought to last week’s match?

But the mood is optimistic. John McIntyre, the former Galway hurling manager, reckoned in his Connacht Tribune column yesterday that through the comeback, the team had managed "to rediscover its soul just in time against all odds".

Great opportunity

“In a nutshell, Galway have turned a potentially heavy defeat into a great opportunity to finally build of their championship exploits of two years ago,” he wrote.

Molloy, too, is optimistic but feels that Galway’s closing match of 2012, that All-Ireland final replay is preying on minds.

“They can win, certainly. There is no doubt about that. I suppose what Galway are afraid of is the 2012 All-Ireland final replay. We didn’t do ourselves justice that day. We should have won it the first day but Kilkenny took us apart in the replay comfortably enough and that is in the back of people’s mind. But at some stage this Galway team will put down a marker and maybe this weekend is the time they will do it.”

The qualifying draw on Monday morning offered another incentive for progression to the Leinster final, with the losers now scheduled to face a smarting Tipperary side in a win-or-bust match.

Galway had five hurlers playing championship against Kilkenny for the first time: no training simulation, however severe, could prepare them for it. They came through it with varying degrees of success.

As ever, Joe Canning moved centre-frame in the Galway picture. The Portumna man is such a key figure. He scored a point for the ages in his haul of 2-3. He also contributed to five other Galway scores and claimed six puck-outs. Late in the afternoon he ran with venom at the Kilkenny goal. As all six Kilkenny defenders descended on him, he flicked the ball to his right for Conor Cooney’s goal. Canning in motion terrorises defences. But on the edge of the square, he can also wreak havoc. Many felt afterwards that Canning had been supreme. But there was also a sense that that he may have to bring more to the Galway cause this evening.

Big problem

Daithí Regan, the former Offaly hurler said on Newstalk that for all Canning’s scoring supremacy, he felt disappointed with the Portumna man “as a captain and a leader”. Canning is at the stage where he is measured and judged against his own performances. But how Galway deploy Canning remains critical.

“Galway’s big problem at the minute seems to be where to play Joe Canning,” says Molloy. “Do you play him full forward and if the maximum amount of ball is not coming in, then you aren’t utilising him properly. He is capable of putting it over the bar from 80 or 90 yards. His last 15 minutes was just super and that last score . . . there was nothing lucky about it. It was very instinctive.”

The end last Sunday was all about instinct. Cuteness and coolness will also be required tonight. It’s unlikely anybody will be leaving this one early.