IT’S BEEN A dozen years now since ‘The Irish Independent’ writer Vincent Hogan produced a brave and provocative piece on Galway hurling.
The headline – ‘Have Galway became a soft touch?’ – gave away the intentions as a series of talking heads had their say. Their comments verged on the incendiary to say the least.
“Galway win an All-Ireland minor and, all of a sudden, these lads’ heads become as big as buckets,” said Brendan Lynskey, the decorated Galway player from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“They’re on Galway Bay FM, they’re down in Supermacs, they’re opening up this, opening up that, signing jerseys. There’s too much made of them.
“We’re making superstars out of middling hurlers in Galway, blowing up bad hurlers as good.
A theme running through all the criticisms however, was the fear of Galway hurlers to put their hand up in the air and risk getting their knuckles cleaned off.
When Ger Loughnane came in as manager in 2007, he brought a tennis ball machine to get players used to catching.
Lynskey was one of Loughnane’s selectors and had watched the process up close. He was still furious years by the time of that interview, shouting down Hogan’s Dictaphone; “GET YOUR HANDS ON THE BALL! Print that please. If you’re refusing to put your hand up even to win your own puck-outs, then my God almighty how are you going to win games? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.”
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As detailed, there was a run of minor success. But there’s one lad on the successful 2009 team you couldn’t imagine heading to Galway Bay FM for a chat, let alone attending a function at Supermacs.
It took him a few years to come through, but once he did, Daithí Burke was an instant solution to the problematic full-back position.
Within four seasons of making his debut, Galway were All-Ireland champions. Burke was handed the role of looking after Jake Dillon first, then Maurice Shanahan in beating Waterford. Neither registered a score.
Another six seasons on and he’s still trucking, albeit in another role as centre-back in a brave switch by Henry Shefflin.
If Galway are going to win the Leinster final this Sunday against Kilkenny, then Burke will be one of the driving forces.
Just take the last day out against Dublin. On 46 minutes, the Dubs were ten points up when Conor Cooney missed a penalty.
Five minutes later, Burke took the ball from a batted short pass by Jason Flynn and planted it into the roof of the net for his first championship goal, in his 50th game for Galway.
As the teams get ready for the next play, RTÉ commentator Ger Canning noted, ‘Just looking at Daithí Burke down there, he’s like a wounded lion just waiting to pounce when that ball comes back out again.’
With two minutes to go, a high fetch from Dublin goalkeeper Sean Brennan’s puckout had Canning’s wing-man, Brendan Cummins ooh-ing in pleasure;
‘Look at that… Burke… going backwards, hurleys all over the place…’
And yet, who knows what of Daithí Burke?
Sure, we know the bare details of the Turloughmore hurler.
One All-Ireland. Two league titles. Five All Stars, four of them in consecutive years from 2015 and accepted as the best full-back in the game prior to the switch.
And then there’s the devotion to Corofin football. Eight county titles, five Connacht titles and four All-Irelands.
But he remains a Greta Garbo figure. Politely turning down interview requests until it became ‘a thing’ and reporters and media people just leave him alone.
One rare interview occurred after he won Man of the Match for Corofin in the 2019 All-Ireland club final. His team mates were so shocked and surprised that they jumped in behind the clear Perspex screen to give him a cheer on as he chatted to TG4.
Kieran Fitzgerald was part of that group that evening and even though he has played alongside Burke, and indeed Burke’s father Gerry, there is an onion quality to the AIB official when you start peeling off the layers.
“My experience of Daithí is playing football with Corofin. And he was the same in there. Lovely fella, quiet guy in the dressing room,” Fitzgerald says.
“He wouldn’t be saying anything really, in the dressing room. But man, go out on the pitch then and he was inspirational for us.
“The saying, ‘actions speak louder than words’, well he was definitely the epitomy of it. He was walking around our dressing room as a footballer, hurler, five All-Stars, and he is the most unassuming lad you could ever imagine. And trained his arse off.
“He used to come back off Galway hurling campaigns and back into Corofin for the club season, as it was at the time. And it might take him two or three weeks to get up to speed regards the football skills. But he would leave everything on the training pitch.”
Among GAA fandom, the strong, silent types become cult heroes. Stephen Cluxton and Francie Bellew did their best to avoid microphones and attention and both are revered in Dublin and Armagh.
Galway supporters love him because even though his physique is not monstrous, he can exert himself in a way that at times was rare for a Galway hurler.
Prior to the 2016 All-Ireland semi-final loss to Tipperary, one Galway supporter was interviewed before the game by RTÉ and said that Burke had been preparing for the game, by ‘Throwing heifers over gates.’
His ability to make critical interventions is part of the appeal. Against Dublin, he did exactly that with his goal and a couple of massive catches.
He was possessed of that rare ability on the football field as well. In 2017, Corofin had St Brigid’s of Roscommon in a Connacht semi-final in Tuam. Burke was coming off the back of the All-Ireland win with Galway and his role was to appear as a sub. Nonetheless, he came on and scored the goal that swung the tie.
Burke is one half of one of the most impressive but left-field decorations in the GAA. He was Man of the Match in the 2019 All-Ireland club final win over Dr Crokes of Kerry.
21 years before that, his father, Gerry, was named Man of the Match in the All-Ireland club final win over Erin’s Isle of Dublin. He was 39 by then and still holding his own at midfield, no less. And this was 22 years since he captained the Galway minor footballers to an All-Ireland title.
At senior level, he won a Connacht title with Galway in 1987.
With Corofin, they won a county title in 1977, 31 years after their last when they beat Moycullen. It says something about his commitment and staying power that he was still playing at 39.
“His father was a great clubman,” recalls Fitzgerald.
“Nowadays, players are looking after themselves. That was the 1998 club player. Club players now are different. It’s not massively unusual for players to still be playing at 38, 39. I played myself until 39 and I know lads who are going that long they keep themselves in good shape with the gym and nutrition and all of that.
“But back in the late ‘90s, to be 39 and to perform at the level he was performing at, was exceptional. I’d imagine the club scene at that stage was Tuesday, Friday, maybe a game at the weekend and that was it.
“Strength and Conditioning at that stage wasn’t to the fore, but he was always a determined man. I remember him doing laps of the racecourse to get himself fit. There was a quiet determination with him as well to keep going and it fed down to Daithí.”
An ounce of breeding is worth a tonne of feeding. Burke’s resilience was shown as a mere child in 2007. Turloughmore were six points down in the county minor final against St Thomas’ when Gary Burke grabbed a goal with four minutes normal time left.
Onwards they pushed. Daithí was carrying a broken finger from a fortnight before but was doing all he could from centre-back. When they got a 20-metre free deep in injury time, he was beckoned forward. He planted the free beyond a forest of hurleys and bodies to snatch the draw.
A month later, they won the replay. He was just 14 at the time. In between the final and replay, they also won the U16 title, Burke playing the same role.
Resolutely his own man, a previous quote from Cyril Farrell held that he moves in a circle of friends that would barely be aware there is a hurling match on this weekend.
The same thing struck Fitzgerald when they were celebrating their multiple titles with Corofin. Burke would be there talking to a load of his friends, but the rest of the team wouldn’t have known them at all.
That’s not to say he has a flippant approach to what he does. Chances are, he could be spending time in the company of TJ Reid this Sunday and will have his homework done.
And you don’t captain so many teams without having genuine leadership qualities. He has never been known to court attention for himself and does not get involved in dressing room politics.
“Something he might love is that hurlers have the helmet and he is not as recognisable as others,” adds Fitzgerald.
“If there is a social occasion, he wouldn’t be putting himself front and centre. He would be in the background, in the periphery. And that’s one of the reasons he is so liked as well. He’s a rare sort of a diamond.
“He’s a bit refreshing in many ways in that he goes out, does his thing, and next game, same thing again.
“He could walk down Shop Street in Galway and might not be recognised by anyone.”
A rare diamond indeed.