Kilkenny 4-21

Galway 2-26

IT’S the long way round for the Galway hurlers now after they were heartbreakingly denied one of the county’s greatest ever championship triumphs in a barnstorming Leinster Final at Croke Park on Sunday.

With a showdown full of twists and turns deep into stoppage time, the Tribesmen stood on the brink of an achievement which would have gone into Galway hurling folklore – only for Kilkenny to dramatically snatch the glory with the game’s last puck.

It was a devastating climax for Henry Shefflin’s gallant charges, but Galway will have nightmares over bungling several attempts to clear their lines in the dying moments when a fourth Leinster title was in their grasp.

Call it poor game management or not being clinical enough, but Galway were made pay a terrible price for not dealing adequately with one last desperate Kilkenny attack after a storming final quarter rally.

With nearly 50 minutes gone on the clock, the men in maroon were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat. Eight points down and facing the wind, Galway were all over the place as some of Kilkenny’s old guard were showing that they weren’t quite ready for the retirement home yet.

Similar, however, to their Leinster semi-final win over Dublin, and just when we were about to write off Galway, they showed admirable character and resilience to storm back into the contest. From the 50th minute until Cillian Buckley’s last-gasp goal, they had outscored the Cats by 1-11 to four points.

That took some hurling. Inspired by the heroic Conor Whelan, Galway took over. A smartly taken goal from substitute Jason Flynn launched their recovery and with Evan Niland, Brian Concannon and Kevin Cooney firing over some cracking points, they had the hard work down only to be thwarted in the cruellest way possible.

It represented a soul-destroying conclusion, and everyone will be aching in the Galway camp for a few days. Unfortunately, they don’t have much time to lick their wounds ahead of a probable All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary on Saturday week.

That’s the difficulty for Galway now. Their route to All-Ireland glory has become a great deal more complicated. Get through that quarter-final and what’s waiting for them but only the four-in-a-row seeking champions Limerick.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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