Inside Track with John McIntyre

Most things in life are alright until they aren’t – and that’s the fallout for the Galway senior hurling team management after Sunday’s eight-point loss to champions Kilkenny in a low-key Leinster Final at Croke Park.

It’s not that the Tribesmen didn’t show up or flopped in their first acid test of the year. The players tried hard and displayed no shortage of resolution in trying to reel in a yawning 13-point deficit, but the team looked unbalanced in a positional sense.

In modern hurling, players need the versatility to play nearly anywhere on the field and, perhaps that’s Galway over-riding problem at present. Are we getting the best out of certain individuals in the roles they are being asked to fulfil?

Young Gavin Lee is the most obvious case in point. A surprise selection at centre-back since the start of the league, the Clarinbridge clubman had a fine Spring campaign. He’s a terrific stickman and confident to go with it, but he lacks the experience and stature for the number six jersey.

Don’t get me wrong, Lee wasn’t cleaned out by the Cats last Sunday, but at times in the second-half he appeared to flirt between centre-back and midfield and didn’t bring any great authority to his area. In the number six jersey, you must be the defensive marshal and that’s possibly an unfair demand on a player so young.

Lee was a productive forward last year and though clubmate Micheál Donoghue and his management would be loath to take him out of centre-back at this critical stage of the championship given how much they have invested in the project, Galway must think short term.

They are still in the championship and though probable (certain) All-Ireland quarter-final opponents Tipperary have stepped up on their dismal 2024 summer, they are hardly unbeatable. Donoghue has got a four-year term, but the only thing that matters now is what happens over the coming weeks.

It’s not just Lee who mightn’t be placed to best advantage. What about Padraic Mannion, Conor Whelan, Daithí Burke and Cianan Fahy for instance? Should Mannion be restored to the half-back line for the Tipp game? Likewise, would Burke solidify the centre-back role?; and could Fahy offer some badly needed dynamism around midfield?

Pictured: Galway’s Cianan Fahy on the charge against Kilkenny’s Mikey Carey and John Donnelly during the Leinster Senior Hurling Final at Croke Park on Sunday. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile