GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship 2015 Quarter Final
Sunday July 26th, 2015
Cork vs Galway Live
Semple Stadium, Thurles
Game start - 4: 00 PM
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CORK: Anthony Nash; Shane O’Neill, Brian Murphy, Stephen McDonnell; Damien Cahalane, Mark Ellis, Cormac Murphy; Aidan Walsh, Daniel Kearney; Brian Lawton, Patrick Cronin, Bill Cooper; Conor Lehane, Séamus Harnedy, Patrick Horgan.
The second game of what should be a superb double header in Thurles on Sunday, sees Cork and and Galway play for a place in the semi-final of the All-Ireland series. Cork, coming off the back of two very good wins in the Qualifiers, face a Galway side looking to bounce back from their Leinster final loss to Kilkenny.
Over the course of their redemptive run through the Qualifiers, Cork have developed a gameplan that has brought their two best forwards, Conor Lehane and Patrick Horgan, much more into the action and they looked a much better team as a result.
Playing in a much deeper role, Horgan has thrived in the space away from the defensive webs that Wexford and Clare spun in front of their own goals, and was given the freedom to express his full array of skills. The Glen Rovers man hit 0-8 against Clare, including three clutch scores from play in the closing stages and made a career high number of tackles, which once again showed that he is emerging as the leader of Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s side.
Although expected to go with an orthodox formation, including a three-man inside forward line of Cathal Mannion, Jason Flynn and Joe Canning, Galway manager Anthony Cunningham is likely to deploy a man-marker on Horgan, with Johnny Coen expected to be handed that most onerous of tasks.
The fact that Galway have been setting up traditionally this year – in 2012, for example, Galway played a much more defensive system – should give the Cork management plenty to mull over, given the three sides they have faced this year have all set up with sweepers. In fact, Cork’s switch to their own sweeper system after the Munster Championship defeat to Waterford was largely down to the fact that their own set-up proved largely ineffective against Na Déise’s complex system.
Playing with Mark Ellis as sweeping seventh defender proved very effective against both Wexford and Clare. It gave a brittle Cork full-back line the extra layer of protection it needed – Shane O’Neill returns from injury on Sunday to add some more experience - and allowed them to play Horgan in a free role in the half-forward line. Whether JBM sticks or twists when faced with another tactical challenge will be a source of endless fascination.
Leaving tactics aside, one of the main reasons Cork dug the win out against Clare was, simply, that they showed a level of desire and a stomach for the fight that many observers believed they lacked. Brian Lawton’s goal-saving hook on Tony Kelly and Aidan Walsh’s amazing block were just two examples of just how ‘up for it’ Cork were, but the clearest evidence of all was the fact that they won the hook/block/tackle count by 42-34. Against Waterford in the Munster Championship, Cork were found badly wanting in this crucial aspect of the game and were beaten by a side that outworked and outfought them.
Galway’s challenge – apart from figuring out a way to stop Horgan and to find someone from an inexperienced defence to go to war with Cork’s often lone striker Séamus Harnedy – is to come back fighting after the 1-25 to 2-15 Leinster final loss to Kilkenny. After destroying Dublin in the semi-final replay, the Tribesmen fancied their chances, but they struggled to cope with the ferocity and intensity of Kilkenny’s tackling, and never quite matched the Cats’ work-rate.
That manifested itself in some unforced errors and poor first touches, but Galway aren’t the first side to fall into that trap against a savage Kilkenny side. Remember how poor they made Wexford look? While Cork will never be quite up to Kilkenny’s off the charts standards in that regard, Galway have to be prepared to deal with a side that now has artisans as well as the usual Leeside artists.
Bill Cooper, Brian Lawton and Harnedy all fall into the former category and have given Cork a steel and edge that will make it another very uncomfortable afternoon for Galway. Cooper, especially, is a hugely underrated player, but he destroyed a vaunted Clare midfield with a display of guts, brave ball-winning and manic energy.
Galway’s game has always been about utilising the lavish gifts of Joe Canning as well as possible, but their main problem is that too many of their players have been peripheral figures in games so far. Canning has scored a stunning 4-32 of their total, but Cathal Mannion is their next highest scorer on 3-8, and 3-5 of that came in the replay win over Dublin.
“The trick for us is two things,” Cunningham told the Irish Times this week. “How do we get more out of Joe? And how do we get Joe more in the play? He’s a constant threat but he’ll be awfully keen to improve his own performance as well, that’s how professional he is. It’s about the sum of all the parts now.”
Cunningham has been remarkably bullish about Galway’s chances this year and told Brian Cody after the Leinster final loss they would ‘see them again in the final’. Cork will have lots to say about that, and the fact that Barry-Murphy has dropped the under-performing Alan Cadogan for the game suggests we really have got to the cut-throat stage of the season.
Galway will go into this game full of belief considering their recent record against Cork, which includes victories in each of their last three encounters (2012, ’11 and ’09). Cork have the ballast of two confidence-building wins over Wexford and Clare, as well as a system of play the players appear to have bought fully into.r Galway
Collins declared fit but no Cooney for Galway
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