GALWAY MANAGER MICHEÁL Donoghue said they will take Saturday’s remarkable 0-35 to 0-17 win over Kilkenny in their stride, while Derek Lyng labelled his side’s defeat as “totally unacceptable.”
Donoghue’s charges blew Kilkenny away with an astonishing display of shooting with the emerging Aaron Niland shooting 0-13 and All Star Cathal Mannion firing 0-6 from play on an evening when 13 Galway players, including all five subs, found the target.
The margin of victory surpasses what is believed to be their biggest win over the Cats when they defeated them by 13 points over a hundred years ago on their way to winning their first ever All-Ireland title.
That 5-4 to 2-0 win over Kilkenny was in the 1923 championship, in a semi-final which took place in May 1924 at Croke Park, before going on to defeat Limerick in the final that September for their first Liam MacCarthy Cup success.
In modern times Galway defeated Kilkenny by 10 points — 2-21 to 2-11 — to win their first Leinster title in 2012.
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But with Kilkenny due back in Pearse Stadium in six weeks for the start of the Leinster championship, Donoghue is not going to get too excited about this drubbing, not least as Kilkenny were missing a few and apparently had a bug in the camp recently.
“For us it’s just about building to the championship and working on what we need to work on and giving as many players as we can the opportunity to get some game time under the belt,” said Donoghue, now in the second season of his second term in charge of his native county.
“So that was our view and we’ve a week off now, we welcome that. And then the last round in two weeks’ time.
“It’s just two points, that’s all it is. I think over the last few weeks we’d have spoken about just improving our consistency and I think today we got it for a longer period and in equal measure we would have talked about our efficiency, so I think both of them contributed to a decent performance.”
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after his side’s defeat, Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng said their performance was far below the standards they set for themselves:
“From the get-go, we were just flat. Totally unacceptable really from our side. It’s not good enough and we’re very disappointed.”
Lyng added that he was unable to provide a reason for their flat display:
“I thought we prepared really well. Like Galway, it was our third week in-a-row. No excuses, to be honest.
“We have to be honest with ourselves: that was unacceptable. Everybody in there knows that. From start to finish, I didn’t think we had enough energy at all. I thought we were way too passive. I’m responsible for that and it wasn’t good enough.”
Lyng concluded by saying that the team is far more capable than what they produced in this game.
“We’ve a lot of work to do to get going. It’s just today is disappointing. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it now. We’ll have to learn fairly fast after this.”
Galway have used 30 players in the league so far and have players to come back, not least five-time All Star Daithi Burke who is recovering from a hamstring injury.
“He’s making good progress, but genuinely we still haven’t got a timeframe on it for him,” added Donoghue whose side face Limerick away in the final round of the league.
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“And John Fleming is long-term as well. So we still have a few knocks and the lads are working hard with the medical team. So we just continue to do that and hopefully they’ll make it.
“There’s great energy in the group, there’s great enthusiasm and everyone that’s getting the opportunity is taking it. So yes, we do miss lads when they’re out, but other lads step in and step up as well,” he added.
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Lyng calls Kilkenny defeat 'totally unacceptable' as Donoghue plays down record win over Cats
GALWAY MANAGER MICHEÁL Donoghue said they will take Saturday’s remarkable 0-35 to 0-17 win over Kilkenny in their stride, while Derek Lyng labelled his side’s defeat as “totally unacceptable.”
Donoghue’s charges blew Kilkenny away with an astonishing display of shooting with the emerging Aaron Niland shooting 0-13 and All Star Cathal Mannion firing 0-6 from play on an evening when 13 Galway players, including all five subs, found the target.
The margin of victory surpasses what is believed to be their biggest win over the Cats when they defeated them by 13 points over a hundred years ago on their way to winning their first ever All-Ireland title.
That 5-4 to 2-0 win over Kilkenny was in the 1923 championship, in a semi-final which took place in May 1924 at Croke Park, before going on to defeat Limerick in the final that September for their first Liam MacCarthy Cup success.
In modern times Galway defeated Kilkenny by 10 points — 2-21 to 2-11 — to win their first Leinster title in 2012.
But with Kilkenny due back in Pearse Stadium in six weeks for the start of the Leinster championship, Donoghue is not going to get too excited about this drubbing, not least as Kilkenny were missing a few and apparently had a bug in the camp recently.
“For us it’s just about building to the championship and working on what we need to work on and giving as many players as we can the opportunity to get some game time under the belt,” said Donoghue, now in the second season of his second term in charge of his native county.
“So that was our view and we’ve a week off now, we welcome that. And then the last round in two weeks’ time.
“It’s just two points, that’s all it is. I think over the last few weeks we’d have spoken about just improving our consistency and I think today we got it for a longer period and in equal measure we would have talked about our efficiency, so I think both of them contributed to a decent performance.”
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after his side’s defeat, Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng said their performance was far below the standards they set for themselves:
“From the get-go, we were just flat. Totally unacceptable really from our side. It’s not good enough and we’re very disappointed.”
Lyng added that he was unable to provide a reason for their flat display:
“I thought we prepared really well. Like Galway, it was our third week in-a-row. No excuses, to be honest.
“We have to be honest with ourselves: that was unacceptable. Everybody in there knows that. From start to finish, I didn’t think we had enough energy at all. I thought we were way too passive. I’m responsible for that and it wasn’t good enough.”
Lyng concluded by saying that the team is far more capable than what they produced in this game.
“We’ve a lot of work to do to get going. It’s just today is disappointing. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it now. We’ll have to learn fairly fast after this.”
Galway have used 30 players in the league so far and have players to come back, not least five-time All Star Daithi Burke who is recovering from a hamstring injury.
“He’s making good progress, but genuinely we still haven’t got a timeframe on it for him,” added Donoghue whose side face Limerick away in the final round of the league.
“And John Fleming is long-term as well. So we still have a few knocks and the lads are working hard with the medical team. So we just continue to do that and hopefully they’ll make it.
“There’s great energy in the group, there’s great enthusiasm and everyone that’s getting the opportunity is taking it. So yes, we do miss lads when they’re out, but other lads step in and step up as well,” he added.
Additional reporting by Sinéad Farrell
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