All fine as the west comes alive again

ALLIANZ NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION ONE FINAL:SO, ANOTHER league campaign leaves us with its entrails to be studied and read at our leisure. Galway and Cork spent the spring shaping up to each other as leading contenders in hurling's "up and coming" section. Yesterday they got to settle a few things. Thurles sucked in 14,200 customers to watch this Allianz League final and they were rewarded with a bruising fast- paced encounter which lost a little of its helter-skelter quality in the second half but which entertained throughout.

Galway prevailed in the end by an eight-point margin which neither flattered them nor quite satisfied them.

They were demonstrably the better side for most of the evening and were still looking for scores at the death even after the result had ceased to be an issue.

The occasion will have told Cork more about themselves than it did Galway. John McIntyre’s side reached decent altitude as recently as last summer and came away knowing that they needed to learn the art of finishing out a game.

It’s been longer than that since Cork were anything but wallflowers at the big dance and the optimism which their league run sparked will have been doused somewhat by this outing, which suggested a certain creakiness in some working parts.

The game began explosively when Damien Hayes motored away from Seán Óg Ó hAilpín with some ease and drove the ball to the Cork net in the first minute.

It was a declaration of intent from Galway and the sight of Seán Óg being withdrawn early in the second half ( he has been suffering with a leg injury for some time) was as startling and worrying for Cork supporters as a lot of the play which preceded that moment.

Central to the workings of soothsayers and oddsmakers last week was the guesswork as to how the tyro full back Eoin Dillon would fare on Joe Canning. Dillon had good form on Canning back in the underage days and wasn’t shamed at all yesterday .

Yet he will look at the stats in brackets after Canning’s name this morning and reflect that it is the nature of his opponent’s genius that he could be overshadowed for so long and yet amass such a respectable tally from play.

Dillon was a worthy gamble which almost paid off .

Elsewhere Denis Walsh had mixed results from the hand he played. The twin towers of Michael Cussen and Aisake Ó hAilpín worked tremendously hard and Cussen had two points in the first half, but neither could compensate for the lack of penetration Cork have suffered since Joe Deane hung up his yellow helmet.

In midfield the elegant young Kanturk player Lorcan McLoughlin got a surprise start but for all his potential he never quite played his way into the game. By the time Jerry O’Connor replaced him, Galway were already within sight of the finish post.

Cork have used 37 players through this league campaign without producing a stand-out contender for a first team breakthrough against Tipperary at the end of this month. Slightly more worrying yesterday was the failure of a couple of players who should be pushing on from their sophomore days.

Patrick Horgan’s league campaign had been going fine until yesterday when he struggled and had the misfortune to see a penalty turned over the bar. Kieran Murphy, a slightly surprising choice for captain this year, was withdrawn in the second half.

Plenty of work to be done at the drawing board and a few prayers to be offered for the return of Niall McCarthy from injury to fill the number 11 shirt.

Galway, enjoying their first national title in six years, are in somewhat better shape.

Joe Canning requires a groin operation but on yesterday’s evidence will be able to push on until the necessary gap opens in his busy schedule.

Around him the pieces are falling into place and the pleasure of yesterday for John McIntyre will have been to see his side put away quality opposition without excessive dependence on the Portumna man.

With players of the quality of John Lee and Joe Gantley sitting on the bench yesterday Galway underlined their standing in the game’s top three.

So as the light declined Shane Kavanagh, captain and man of the match, pronounced the west awake again as he accepted a national title. He counted the reasons to be cheerful.

“Our second piece of silverware this year. So far so good. The year starts here now.”

Indeed. And with the white heat of the Leinster championship still to be faced, optimism and momentum is perhaps just what Galway needed.