The headline for my column from May 14th included the words “Leinster is the story of the hurling summer”. That weekend’s scheduled matches promised, in my own words, to “define seasons”. The following week, I decided it was time to write about the Tailteann Cup.
What happened in between to so dampen my ardour? Galway 0-21 Dublin 3-16, in Salthill on Saturday, May 16th. It was one of the most dispiriting days I’ve had in that ground in a long time.
After 20 minutes, I turned to my brother beside me and said Dublin were the worst team I’d seen in years . . . and they were leading Galway at the time. Daithí Burke had just brought a 65 down off his hurl and into his own net. Galway then conceded two goals in the last 10 minutes – the second in injury time – and Dublin were victorious.
With a few minutes left in the first half, as the game meandered aimlessly, I watched as a group of 10-or-so English lads dressed in peak caps and tweed suits trudged rather forlornly in front of the stand through the on-again, off-again rain in the direction of the Supermac’s van.
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My heart went out to the poor groomsman who had suggested an afternoon of Irish sporting culture and heritage to break up the all-day stag high-jinks.
“It’s the fastest field sport in the world, mate.” Not that day, it wasn’t. It was dull, it was lifeless and it seemed by game’s end as if the air had comprehensively gone out of the Galway balloon.
We had attended hopeful of a mid-season course correction. Galway had been competitive in the league and had a couple of eye-catching performances in defeat against both of the acknowledged front-runners, Cork and Limerick. There had also been a thumping win against Kilkenny, 35 points to 17.
Galway followed that up in the first round of the Leinster championship with another hammering of Kilkenny, 3-25 to 1-16, and all of a sudden this was a team that demanded to be taken seriously. Then they laboured to a win over Offaly and were terrible in the first half against Kildare before getting back on track in the second period.
The Dublin defeat seemed like evidence that Galway were regressing game-by-game. Another terrible first half away to Wexford in the final round did nothing to disavow us of those notions. Then the Leinster final happened and last Saturday happened and suddenly, Micheál Donoghue’s investment in youth has paid off in spectacular fashion.
Tipperary were praised last year for being a young team, but in truth the arrival of Darragh McCarthy, Sam O’Farrell and Oisín O’Donoghue hid the fact that it was still a very experienced unit. And even at that, more often than not it was one or two who started games for Tipp last year, not all three.
Galway have gone quite a bit farther than that, with Cillian Trayers, Cian Daniels, Darragh Neary, Jason Rabbitte and Aaron Niland all making massive contributions in their first year. Kieran Hanrahan would be pushing hard for a starting place if it weren’t for his season-ending injury, and Shane Morgan and Oisin Lohan made championship debuts this year also. Throw in Rory Burke, Joshua Ryan and John Fleming, who made his debut last year, and you have the guts of half a team that Donoghue has brought through since he took over after Henry Shefflin.
Shefflin was promoted to the senior hotseat in his home county this week, but his time out west was a failure – there’s no point in saying anything different. Cillian Buckley’s last-second goal in the 2023 Leinster final robbed him of the moment of vindication a provincial title would have provided. And you can see the difference winning the Leinster title has made to this current Galway team.
They are absolutely secure in how they’re setting up. They are more than happy to funnel players behind the ball, to the extent that I got a text message off someone after 20 minutes of the game last Saturday which suggested tongue-in-cheek that hurling needs a ‘three-up’ rule. And in Jason Rabbitte, they have a focal point.
What young players often bring is exuberance – a bit of X-factor on top of already-successful teams. I’m thinking here of Setanta Ó hÁilpín or Jason Sherlock. But Rabbitte gives clarity and depth to Galway’s entire attacking strategy. He’s been the missing piece in the puzzle.
If that all sounds very grown-up, the presence of Rabbitte and Niland – who only did their Leaving Cert in Athenry last year – has also deepened the connection between the team and the youngsters on the Hill who have always managed to make themselves heard in recent years. No more than the Mayo fans on the terraces this Saturday to see Kobe and Darragh Beirne, the presence of young players enlivens everyone.
Galway’s playing style might not be to everyone’s taste, but they asked questions Cork had no answer for. Donoghue has prepared his team diligently, he has protected and nourished his young players, he’s managed to get huge impact off the bench from Conor Cooney and other older players who might have felt marginalised, or even victimised, and he’s got Galway to an All-Ireland final. It’s an exceptional body of work and last Saturday gives rise to hope that he might not be finished yet.
