The day Galway re-organised hurling's top table

Irish Times

3 days ago

It was an extraordinary rise, simply because the fall had been so spectacular.
At the end of July 1973,
Galway's
hurlers lost to London in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Within two years, they had won the league and an All-Ireland semi-final for the first time since the early 1950s.
The achievement was notable at the time but 50 years in retrospect, it is of even greater significance. Since 1975, Galway, who had an at best patchy championship record – one All-Ireland and several final defeats – have been consistently at the top table, even if not always dining sumptuously.
Next year, it will be eight seasons since the county last contested an All-Ireland and that is as long as Galway have ever had to wait between final appearances since the breakthrough of 1975 when they would lose in the final to
Kilkenny's
great team of the time.
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A handful of players actually made it all the way from losing to London to contesting an All-Ireland. It was off the field, however, that they made the big change. MJ Flaherty, known to all as 'Inky' was a hurling icon in the west.
His 17 years playing for Galway had brought some rewards – captaining the league winning side of 1951 and a Railway Cup with Connacht in 1947 – but his only All-Ireland final came in his last year, 1953 by which stage he was on the bench but he did play that day when Cork retained their title.
Flaherty went on to manage his county later that decade and after the nadir of 1973, he was convinced to take charge once more. There were green shoots in that the county had three years previously won its first under-21 All-Ireland and several of that team graduated.
For the 1975 season, the manager concentrated on physical fitness although he did bring in another former great to help with coaching, Josie Gallagher, whose influence was sufficient for John Connolly, the team's captain and only All Star, to credit him with transforming his line-ball striking technique.
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All Ireland Hurling Final 1981: Galway's John Connolly gets past Eugene Coughlan of Offaly. Photograph: INPHO/ Billy Stickland
From Division Two, they won the league, beating the big three in their knockout matches, Cork, All-Ireland champions Kilkenny and Tipperary. The manager also pressed on them the importance of analysing their game and the team's.
'I encouraged them to be self-critical,' he told Paddy Downey in these pages, 'and to be critical of each other when necessary but not in a hurtful way. I impressed on them that top-class hurling was more than a game, it was an art and if they aspired to be artists, they had no alternative but to practice constantly and develop all their skills'.
An All-Ireland quarter-final against B champions Westmeath was the only championship practice they got before facing new Munster champions Cork, who had dethroned Limerick, in the semi-final.
The late Joe McDonagh, who would be elected GAA president in 1996, told author Norman Freeman about the impact of the manager.
'Inky kept telling us that we could do it. He kept hammering the themes of self-belief and self-confidence. We felt great. We were superbly fit.
'We felt that Cork might be writing us off in their own minds – the Galway teams of other years satisfied to make a reasonable showing for most of the match. We were determined to give it all we had.'
Iggy Clarke playing for Galway in 1984. Photograph: Inpho
In what almost became a template for Galway teams, they effectively won the match in the early stages. Three goals within the opening nine minutes from Frank Burke, Connolly and PJ Qualter put them 10 ahead, 3-2 to 0-1.
In what would become another recognisable trend, the lead evaporated and although the Westerners did well to keep it topped up, the match ended in a frenzy of one and two-point leads before they succeeded in closing it out, 4-15 to 2-19 before 27,020 spectators.
There was no doubting the merit of the win, however, and Galway believed they would have won by more had the match continued for a while longer. Led by the exceptional displays of Seán Silke and Iggy Clarke in the half backs, their defence did enough to limit Cork's highly-regarded attack.
It meant a first All-Ireland since 1958 when in an experiment, the GAA had been rotating the byes into the final so that Galway didn't have to play a semi-final in either 1955 or three years later.
From that year on, the county had a largely fruitless – one match won in a decade – involvement in the Munster championship until 1969.
Their relationship with Cork was different in the 1970s. The team they defeated 50 years ago was on the cusp of the county's last three-in-a-row.
Iggy Clarke with a hurley from his playing days at his home in Oranmore. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy
Four years later, it was Galway who also called a halt to the attempt at four successive All-Irelands. Again, Kilkenny intervened in the final.
A year later, the dawning of a new decade saw Galway finally fulfilled with a dramatic win over Limerick, followed by Connolly's brother Joe giving his timeless oráid - speech.
It all began with the win over Cork, 50 years ago this weekend.