Nice postscript to the season here from PM though I am always wary of fellas texting during matches
PM O’SULLIVAN: Galway had verve because they had nerve
5
Friday, September 08, 2017
It was moving to see the camp and their supporters hold tight the emotion involved, writes PM O’Sullivan.
Gerry McInerney marks his son Gearóid in Athenry at last night’s challenge match.
Hurling could hardly have sought more of 2017.
The best team won, thrice over: NHL final, Leinster Championship, All-Ireland Championship.
Galway answered all the relevant questions with the cold aplomb of a man defusing a bomb against the clock.
Galway had verve because they had nerve.
Micheál Donoghue, as manager, can take every sort of bow. He overcame serious setbacks. Having been relegated out of Division 1A in 2016, losing to Cork in a match that should have been won, Galway failed to be promoted out of Division 1B in 2017, losing to Wexford in a match that should have been won.
Different times, those defeats would have unhinged Galway. Couple that experience with losing, via bad luck with injuries, to Tipperary in 2016’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Different times, Galway would have felt sorry for themselves.
That bomb would have blown championship chances to smithereens.
My phone pinged with a text from a shrewd friend during the third quarter of last Sunday’s All-Ireland final. A 47th minute Pauric Mahony free, awarded after John Hanbury picked up the ball, had just left Waterford a point to the good, 2-12 to 0-17.
Brian O’Neill’s text was succinct: “Now we will see whether Galway really are different this year.”
The winter will be the same but entirely different in the fields of Clarinbridge and Oranmore and Peterswell and Portumna and wherever else.
Galway hurling is as old as hurling. This 21st century summer, they were different. Pain became a device for salvation, for tackling the bomb.
Last Sunday and Monday, it was moving to see the camp and their supporters hold tight the emotion involved.
Rarely has there been such dignity in victory.
Now for the verve that follows after holding your nerve. Twenty nine years without the Liam MacCarthy Cup meant 28 years when the Galway senior team could not hurl as All-Ireland champions.
Winning a senior title enlarges the group. The feat did wonders for the Cork team of 2004 and still more wonders for the Kilkenny team of 2006.
The feat should have done wonders for the Tipperary team of 2010 but somehow did not catch. Ditto for Clare of 2013. Galway are well placed for a spell of dominance akin to their 1980s forebears’ success. Joe Canning, 29 this October, is their oldest outfield player.
Exactly the same plaudit to Waterford’s dignity in defeat, which is an even harder trick to manage. Supporters, players, and management were one in this regard.
Readers of this column know I doubt the logic of sweeper-based hurling in general and doubt some of Waterford’s hurling in particular. Only some of it, mind. Let nobody deny the weight of their contribution over the last three seasons.
Déise wise, there is more to come. There is better to come. If they learn the hard lessons absorbed by Galway, they can travel the same path, quell the same ticking.
While I cannot agree with all of Derek McGrath’s pronouncements on hurling, nobody could doubt the welcome freshness of his opinions and the force of his achievement. He thinks carefully and he speaks his mind. He carried himself with great dignity in searing disappointment and spoke at the Waterford homecoming with remarkable impromptu eloquence.
I hope McGrath continues as manager and applies his analytical skills to the question of further evolution. Playing with no full-forward line kills tempo, disallowing quick deliveries. Waterford possess forwards well equipped to capitalise on quick deliveries.
Why spurn this potential, now that the first act of his panel’s evolution is complete?
2018 is not just another season but a new stage.
Nor do we need to wait until then to see significant hurling. First, there is the game’s last act in 2017, tomorrow’s All-Ireland U21 final.
If Limerick, as expected, take this title, they acquire the senior momentum delivered by two U21 titles in three years. Momentum is sorely needed, since this season’s senior performances proved risible for the most part.
If Kilkenny win tomorrow, short term prospects get enhanced. Going by 2017, Kilkenny are no longer a top six team. They require a sustained rethink in approach and personnel.
The camp, as reflected by recent results, went stale. Watching how these rejigs are attempted sits up as a fascinating aspect. Strong word on the ground says Brian Cody is remaining in situ.
Yes, next season already looks a tasty prospect. If nothing else, Davy Fitzgerald is reconfirmed as Wexford manager. This scenario sets up two enticing NHL ties, Wexford against Clare and Wexford against Kilkenny.
Can Fitzgerald keep his adopted county on an upward curve? Here will be a leading question, one with broader implications than a single county’s fortunes.
The Leinster Championship, if retained, should be a competitive arena. If Dublin rally under their new manager, it might even be highly competitive. Dublin need to shake themselves. Who is the best man for this task?
In Munster, Cork are mulling a step further. Next summer, their exciting young cohort become a year older and much more experienced in light of winning a Munster title and appearing in Croke Park.
Will not the draw for the Munster Championship, if retained, be a keen affair?
Travelling the long side told in the end on Cork and Tipperary.
Clare need to finesse their style of play. They are falling between two types of foolishness, residual stuff from the previous managerial period and current stuff focused on puckouts as the be all and end all. Clare need balance.
Tipperary? Perhaps the most fascinating question of all. Never performed this year to their capabilities but still could have retained their title but for small enough matters.
The talent remains. Does the desire? Next season will tell us whether Michael Ryan can be a great manager.
Yes, tasty prospects all over the place. What more could we ask than that we depart with a sharpened appetite for the future?
Whatever the coming structures, hurling is in a promising place.