Inside Track with John McIntyre

Where is the Henry Shefflin Galway project now? In a bit of trouble, we venture to suggest after his team fell to pieces in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park. They weren’t beaten out the gate, but there is no disguising how far the men in maroon are away from winning an All-Ireland title anytime soon.

Since his stunning arrival west to great fanfare in the winter of 2021, Shefflin and his lieutenants have devoted themselves to building a Galway team which would consistently deliver in the big matches. Naturally, the Kilkenny legend would have taken time to familiarise himself with the inner workings of hurling in the county and few fans banked on silverware in his first year in charge.

Still, it was a major disappointment when Galway didn’t raise much of a gallop in last year’s Leinster Final and they were then fortunate to overcome a wasteful Cork team in Thurles. But after giving Limerick stacks of it in the All-Ireland semi-final, Shefflin would have felt he had the makings of a team to go to war with in 2023.

Furthermore, he would know the local scene much better, and obviously have greater familiarity with his squad. In the build-up to Saturday’s semi-final, Shefflin spoke about the growing connection between management and the players, and you got the sense he expected Galway to really throw down the gauntlet to Limerick.

However, what he wouldn’t have expected is that the Tribesmen’s challenge would largely disintegrate after 25 minutes. They went from dominating the game to being battered off the pitch. Sure, Limerick had a lot to do with that, but to see Galway being completely outplayed and with no obvious Plan B came as a shock to the system.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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