With Whelan motoring out the field, Galway have chance to right previous wrongs

Irish Examiner

10 hours ago

How do you measure progress?
Galway began their Leinster campaign with a 12-point hammering at the hands of Kilkenny. They bookended their Leinster round-robin campaign with a comfortable five-point win away to Dublin. It was a game they'd led by 12 with six minutes remaining.
That's collective progress, though. What about individual progress within the five-week window, how could that be measured?
Conor Whelan's headway, as it turns out, is very easily scored and depicted.
Whelan began Leinster as a muted and struggling-for-form inside forward. He left the round-robin behind as a puckout-winning, point-scoring, turnover-hungry half-forward.
In the county's aforementioned opening round spin to Nowlan Park, Whelan had two clean possessions in the entire first half. And this a first half where Galway had the elements.
The beginning to his second half saw him foul Mikey Butler at one turn before, not long after, letting fall a delivery and then running out over the sliotar.
The Galway captain had just five possessions to his name when moved out to half-forward on 64 minutes. And there he has stayed and swollen his influence.
Compare the five possessions across 64 minutes at Nowlan Park to the five he had in the first 15 minutes of their de facto Leinster semi-final against Dublin last time out. He won two Galway puckouts, a free, and assisted a point.
His five possessions in the 18 minutes after half-time saw him claim another puckout, which led to a point, raise three white flags of his own, and then force a turnover of Ronan Hayes that ended with a Tom Monaghan point.
'In terms of where we were and what we needed, we needed that leadership and that responsibility there. No better man. He's leading the line really, really well at the minute,' said manager Micheál Donoghue of the move to wing-forward.
And what of the man himself. What's he made of moving out the field to reprise a role he very briefly held during the premierships of Henry Shefflin and Shane O'Neill.
'After a defeat like [the Kilkenny game], you have to change a few things, and I played there for my club all last year and we got to the county intermediate final. The way the game has gone now, you probably try and turn the middle third into more of a battleground really. That's just where it's at,' said Whelan.
'At this level, you have to have the skillset and adaptability to be able to adjust and move around. It's not that different, I'm still fairly close to goal and just happy to help the team in any way you can and contribute to trying to be successful.'
It was at wing-forward that an 18-year-old Whelan was sprung from nowhere for his first championship appearance and start in the 2015 All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork. He marked the debut and marked himself out with a 1-2 contribution.
Donoghue assumed the reins for the following season and moved him into the corner. It was at corner-forward he won an All-Ireland and All-Star in 2017.
The now 28-year-old, in an unprompted admission, always expected Donoghue to return for a second stint in the maroon bib.
'Probably always knew that he'd come back at some stage, just wasn't sure when. Happy to have him back. I did always feel that he would be back as he would have had a very close connection with the players the first time. I knew that would always draw him back in over time. I thought he'd probably leave it another couple of years until a good few of us were finished.
'Micheál always brings a very high standard of what he expects and he's very, very good at moulding a group and bringing people together, even down to the amount of players he's tried in the league, over 40, and 30 or so in the championship.'
Whelan, who is currently finishing up a PhD at ATU Galway in Elite Gaelic Games Student Athletes, is among the minority of current Tribesmen who own a Leinster final.
They've lost three - all to Kilkenny - since the 2018 replay triumph. Unsurprisingly, 2023 rankles the most.
Galway, if requires reminding, had one hand on the Bob O'Keeffe Cup when Cillian Buckley stole the result, the silverware, and the works with a 76th minute goal.
'Any time you lose a game like that, it's challenging. Ultimately, that's the nature of sport and you never have it won until you're across the line. No two finals are the same thankfully, so we'll be looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead.
'Winning as a group and being successful, that's very important. A Leinster title is a major part of that and I'm fortunate enough to have two, and feel that I should have more. We went up there a good few times expecting and we've had our fair share of disappointment. That just shows you how difficult they are to win.'
With an in-form Whelan lifting in his new home, they're odds of faring better with this latest attempt are much healthier than if he'd been left to wither inside.