TIME whizzes by and Galway manager Anthony Cunningham, crestfallen 12 months previously after seeing his young under-21 side eaten by Tipperary as part of an extended All-Ireland feast, stood on the field at Semple Stadium accepting congratulations, writes SEÁN MORAN.
On Saturday night it was his team that were replete, with Dublin left to ponder the crushing frustrations of trying to get to hurling’s top table. “Winner takes all,” said Cunningham, “and last year it was probably a lonely place. But these guys worked so hard for us this year. They were a young team last year, 14 under-21 (again) so the experience probably suited them and Tom Helebert and Mattie Kenny have put in tremendous coaching work and we’ve done a lot of development work on the pitch.”
Three first-half goals decided the matter. “We’d worked on that,” he said. “Goals win matches – we saw that last Sunday (the senior final) when it was pivotal as well – and the team that forces it and gets the goals is on a very good footing.”
Dublin manager John McEvoy struggled to make sense of the comprehensive defeat. “It is very disappointing. We felt going into the game that we had a great chance. Our preparations had been very good, we felt we had all the bases covered but on the day it did not happen for us. A penalty decision and a few things like that went against us, but those are the breaks and they make the difference in big games like, particularly in the first half?
“It was the phase before half-time . . . I don’t want to go on about refereeing decisions because that is not the way that we go about our business in Dublin. Certainly a few went against us, but that is the way it goes. We made changes at half-time and we got back into the game but you have to give credit to Galway too, they showed immense physicality particularly in their full-back line and half-back line.”
The sorrowful mysteries of Galway hurling ordain that under-age success is merely a way of sharpening the pain of senior failure and Cunningham ran through a checklist of what’s required to address the situation.
“You are looking for guys who are good in the air, for speed, for skill and a bit of toughness. It is a big gap, there is still a massive amount of work, you see how high the bar is – I don’t have to tell you.”
With the county in the process of contemplating whether or not John McIntyre gets to see out his term as senior manager, the unspoken question quickly broke cover. Strong CV, now? “I am not taking those questions!”
