Date Published: 06-Jun-2011

STEPHEN GLENNON

Galway senior hurling manager John McIntyre has reaffirmed his faith in his players but admitted his side will have to improve significantly when they face Dublin in the Leinster semi-final in Tullamore on Saturday, June 18.

Although the Tribesmen emerged victorious over Westmeath on a scoreline of 4-17 to 2-14 in their provincial quarter-final clash in Mullingar last Saturday, it took a personal tally of 3-1 from Pearses’ Cyril Donnellan – in addition to four points from play from Damien Hayes – to get the visitors over the finish line.

It was far from a display of substance from McIntyre’s charges, who, having led by six points early in the second half, were put on the back foot by a Paul Greville 46th minute goal and were subsequently hauled in by a gritty Westmeath outfit by the end of the third quarter.

Tied at Galway 3-9 to Westmeath 2-12, McIntyre and his management team were forced to throw on their ‘big hitters’ in Shane Kavanagh, Tony Óg Regan, Eanna Ryan and Joe Canning late in the match to recover a precarious situation. The Tribesmen duly responded, outscoring their opponents by 1-8 to 0-2 in the closing quarter.

To some degree, that final scoreline only served to paper over the cracks of yet another disjointed Galway showing, but as McIntyre reiterated again this week, this tie against minnows Westmeath really was a no-win game for his charges.

“I remember two years ago we played Laois in O’Moore Park and we beat them out the gate. It didn’t do us much good in the long run, so we have to keep some perspective,” said McIntyre.

“Obviously everybody involved with this team – players, management and backroom staff – are disappointed with our overall performance the last day. But our basic objective was to go up there, play the game, get the result and move on. That mission was accomplished.”

However, in terms of the intensity required in the championship outings ahead, it simply was not there and one has to wonder was this not a concern for the management team.

“No matter how much you try to build up players for a game that they are overwhelming favourites to win – human nature being what it is – a team can struggle to bring the required levels of intensity to a fixture like that. So, I can understand what happened to us on Saturday night,” stated the Galway boss.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.