Greater scope for Galway to reassert champion credentials

“Croke Park will be physical and tactical. In Thurles it will be all of that with plenty of pace thrown in” – the line was one from this column last week and goes to show if you want to read a bit of sense you know where to go.

Okay, anyone who has followed the sport over the years will have seen that coming though it is worth noting how the contrast between the two games was so glaringly obvious. There is a view in Leinster that the Munster championship is like a carnival where everyone has loads of fun but when the sun gets lower in the sky the tent is taken down and the more prosaic style of Leinster hurling - a place where people get tackled and space is tighter - will prevail. Maybe there is something in that but only time will tell.

We spoke here last week of this as a potential ‘legacy game’ for Galway – a game which would go some way to deciding their ultimate place in the broader scheme of things where greatness is the currency. Based on last Sunday the question must be posed if this team has been elevated to a status in the public mind that their on-field exploits do not yet reflect. Still they have another day out. Look at the small margins that might have kept Tipp, for example, in the championship. It is very easy to come out on the wrong side of the mix and to give Galway their due it was Kilkenny who had to save the day.

 

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