THE CLUE TO what Dublin might try in the Leinster final could be aptly summed up with the headline of the RTÉ match report on their website; ‘Direct Dublin bombard Galway to claim vital Leinster win.’
For that game in Salthill, Dublin had the wind for the second half. Manager Niall Ó Ceallachain introduced John Hetherton and Ronan Hayes and they hoisted a series of balls in high that caused wreck in the Galway full-back line.
While Hetherton didn’t score himself, he fielded plenty and set up Hayes for his goal at a vital time to turn the tide.
Given the joy Dublin got off a similar approach in Parnell Park against Kilkenny, this was well signposted.
And as James Skehill said on Off The Ball’s Hurling Podcast during the week (other Podcasts are available), there was a huge injury doubt over Daithí Burke’s fitness, but he would be chewing barbed wire to get marking John Hetherton.
Galway had every reason to bring nerves into this game, especially since it had been six years since they last won in Croke Park.
So let’s take a microscope to their tussle.
As expected, Burke drifted into full-back from the start, despite wearing the number 6 jersey. When Hetherton eventually joined him, he gave him a paw on his chest.
From the very first Dublin puckout, a ball was sent towards them and broke away.
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In the second attack, Hetherton was out in front and collected, pointing over his left shoulder.
The next ball that came, the St Vincent’s man was in front again, but miscontrolled the ball off his hurl. The one after that was in the air, broke to the floor and Fergal Whitely was on hand to point.
Darragh Neary and Joshua Ryan celebrate. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Another minute later, Burke was his first break and flicked out to Cillian Trayers.
Ten minutes, five contests, and Burke also won the ball from a ruck in this time.
Burke also gathered the next ball, though Hetherton had got to it first and tried a flick.
A huge moment arrived in Hetherton’s next involvement. A long ball was played to him and he got the ball ahead of Padraic Mannion, who was now marking him. He laced a shot goalwards but it was kept out by Galway goalkeeper, Darach Fahy.
For this play, Burke was off the field. He re-emerged a short time later, with strapping on his knee. We’ll come back to that at the end.
The next it came in, Burke was back on the field and the ball bounced before Hetherton gathered and was fouled for a Donal Burke converted free.
The odd thing is that the service dried up for the rest of the half then.
In time added on at the end of the first half, Dublin sent on David Purcell, renowned for having a big paw on him. Ronan Hayes was already on. Surely the ball was going to arrive like a comet for the second half?
Hetherton missed a catch and his confidence ebbed away as he was being kept out of proceedings. On 48 minutes, Burke got up the field and got to arrow a delivery to Aaron Niland who pointed.
Burke then tidied up the next ball in and won a free. Hetherton missed a catch from a Paddy Smyth delivery on the hour mark. Six minutes later he got one into his hand but by then, Dublin were misfiring all over the place and he wasn’t immune to the effects, dropping the ball straight away.
With two minutes to go, they had their last direct involvement on the edge of the square. Burke did enough to break it. He was taken off soon afterwards to a rapturous reception from the Galway crowd.
The two late Dublin goals did not happen on his watch.
Afterwards in the press conference, we asked if it was a tactical shift away from the long ball, a failure to execute, or just Galway cutting out the moves at source.
“I thought we definitely wanted to go central for that first 20 minutes, with himself (Hetherton) and Conal (Ó Riain) in there to start the game,” answered Niall Ó Ceallachain.
Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallachain. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“We didn’t really shift. We actually felt, and we spoke about it at half-time, that off our puck out that we could go more short to long, and central.
“The key with that is you have to have the depth. If you’re delivering and it’s landed 30 or 35 yards out, it looks like you’re kind of getting beaten in that area, but it’s the depth in the actual delivery that’s key.
“I felt we struggled a little bit there at times. When the ball was actually sent in with depth, I thought we did cause problems in there, but it just wasn’t frequent enough.”
And the strapping on Burke’s knee after he came off briefly in the first half?
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“Yeah,” explained Galway manager Micheál Donoghue. “He thought he actually dislocated it and went back again.”
And then to come back and do the job that he did?
“That’s just a testament to the man he is. He’s a bear.”
Sorry. Did you say, he thought he had dislocated his knee, and played on?
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How Daithí Burke weathered the aerial bombardment for Galway
THE CLUE TO what Dublin might try in the Leinster final could be aptly summed up with the headline of the RTÉ match report on their website; ‘Direct Dublin bombard Galway to claim vital Leinster win.’
For that game in Salthill, Dublin had the wind for the second half. Manager Niall Ó Ceallachain introduced John Hetherton and Ronan Hayes and they hoisted a series of balls in high that caused wreck in the Galway full-back line.
While Hetherton didn’t score himself, he fielded plenty and set up Hayes for his goal at a vital time to turn the tide.
Given the joy Dublin got off a similar approach in Parnell Park against Kilkenny, this was well signposted.
And as James Skehill said on Off The Ball’s Hurling Podcast during the week (other Podcasts are available), there was a huge injury doubt over Daithí Burke’s fitness, but he would be chewing barbed wire to get marking John Hetherton.
Galway had every reason to bring nerves into this game, especially since it had been six years since they last won in Croke Park.
So let’s take a microscope to their tussle.
As expected, Burke drifted into full-back from the start, despite wearing the number 6 jersey. When Hetherton eventually joined him, he gave him a paw on his chest.
From the very first Dublin puckout, a ball was sent towards them and broke away.
In the second attack, Hetherton was out in front and collected, pointing over his left shoulder.
The next ball that came, the St Vincent’s man was in front again, but miscontrolled the ball off his hurl. The one after that was in the air, broke to the floor and Fergal Whitely was on hand to point.
Another minute later, Burke was his first break and flicked out to Cillian Trayers.
Ten minutes, five contests, and Burke also won the ball from a ruck in this time.
Burke also gathered the next ball, though Hetherton had got to it first and tried a flick.
A huge moment arrived in Hetherton’s next involvement. A long ball was played to him and he got the ball ahead of Padraic Mannion, who was now marking him. He laced a shot goalwards but it was kept out by Galway goalkeeper, Darach Fahy.
For this play, Burke was off the field. He re-emerged a short time later, with strapping on his knee. We’ll come back to that at the end.
The next it came in, Burke was back on the field and the ball bounced before Hetherton gathered and was fouled for a Donal Burke converted free.
The odd thing is that the service dried up for the rest of the half then.
In time added on at the end of the first half, Dublin sent on David Purcell, renowned for having a big paw on him. Ronan Hayes was already on. Surely the ball was going to arrive like a comet for the second half?
Hetherton missed a catch and his confidence ebbed away as he was being kept out of proceedings. On 48 minutes, Burke got up the field and got to arrow a delivery to Aaron Niland who pointed.
Burke then tidied up the next ball in and won a free. Hetherton missed a catch from a Paddy Smyth delivery on the hour mark. Six minutes later he got one into his hand but by then, Dublin were misfiring all over the place and he wasn’t immune to the effects, dropping the ball straight away.
With two minutes to go, they had their last direct involvement on the edge of the square. Burke did enough to break it. He was taken off soon afterwards to a rapturous reception from the Galway crowd.
The two late Dublin goals did not happen on his watch.
Afterwards in the press conference, we asked if it was a tactical shift away from the long ball, a failure to execute, or just Galway cutting out the moves at source.
“I thought we definitely wanted to go central for that first 20 minutes, with himself (Hetherton) and Conal (Ó Riain) in there to start the game,” answered Niall Ó Ceallachain.
“We didn’t really shift. We actually felt, and we spoke about it at half-time, that off our puck out that we could go more short to long, and central.
“The key with that is you have to have the depth. If you’re delivering and it’s landed 30 or 35 yards out, it looks like you’re kind of getting beaten in that area, but it’s the depth in the actual delivery that’s key.
“I felt we struggled a little bit there at times. When the ball was actually sent in with depth, I thought we did cause problems in there, but it just wasn’t frequent enough.”
And the strapping on Burke’s knee after he came off briefly in the first half?
“Yeah,” explained Galway manager Micheál Donoghue. “He thought he actually dislocated it and went back again.”
And then to come back and do the job that he did?
“That’s just a testament to the man he is. He’s a bear.”
Sorry. Did you say, he thought he had dislocated his knee, and played on?
“That’s what they thought, yeah.”
What can you say?
**
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Bear on the square Dublin Galway Leinster Final