11 hours ago
Tribe star hails teammate as 'one of the best that's ever come out of Galway'
If Galway are to extend their season this weekend, it's likely they'll lean on a player that Fintan Burke describes as one of the county's best ever.
Cathal Mannion has already almost single-handedly brought Galway back from the brink after a loss to Kilkenny this year, and he may be required to do the same against Tipperary on Saturday.
Having started their Leinster campaign with a 12-point loss to Kilkenny, it ended with an eight-point reverse to the Cats in the recent provincial final, but Mannion's form has held up whatever the outcome.
He took his tally for the Championship to 2-55 from five games with 0-11 in that Leinster final and if there was a player of the year award for the provincial series, it would surely be his.
'I suppose it's probably people outside the county probably would have forgotten the level of hurler he is and in fairness to us in the group when you see him day in, day out and week in, week out doing it in training you're not really surprised to be honest,' noted his teammate Burke.
'In my opinion I'd have him as up there as one of the best ever that's come out of Galway to be honest.
'Even he got a point there out under the Cusack Stand [in the Leinster final], we were kind of under the cosh, he kind of fell over like, you wouldn't do it if you were in the pitch on your own.
'That's just the magic of Cathal in fairness.'
Even his sorcery wasn't enough as while Mannion helped inspire a comeback as Galway whittled a 13-point deficit down to four, they fell off again to round out an underwhelming afternoon having come into the game with much momentum.
'The most disappointing thing for us and for the group is that we didn't hurl how we want to hurl and we didn't express the brand of hurling that we're trying to express, which we kind of played on Kilkenny's terms, which is disappointing,' said Burke.
'Now in fairness to them they had probably taken the foot off the gas like, we know that too, but we hurled how we wanted to hurl, we moved the ball faster and worked it through the lines and in fairness it was effective.
'But yeah, look, obviously we know at this level you need to bring that for 65, 70 minutes if you're going to, if you're going to get over the line.'
Galway have been stagnant in recent years having continually fallen to Kilkenny when it counts most in Leinster and made little impact in the All-Ireland series since their last final appearance in 2018.
It comes amid a backdrop of having won four successive All-Ireland minor titles from 2017-20 and an expectation that the players from those sides should be at or near their peak now.
'There is no panic,' says Burke. 'Obviously, as I said a few times, it's frustration and disappointment at our performance more than anything and like we know it's not going to be an overnight thing, Micheál [Donoghue] coming in and winning All-Irelands.
'It's going to take a year or two for lads to kind of knit in, the younger lads to get used to the older lads and vice versa. But still, at the same time, we want to be successful now.
'There's a few of us pushing on a small bit and you don't want to be waiting three or four years to be getting successful. So it's kind of finding the balance in between.'
Their rivalry with Tipp is one of the most keenly fought in hurling, particularly since it really took off in the late '80s.
Eleven out of their last 12 Championship meetings have been decided by three points or less - six of them by just a single point.
The previous Championship fixture to take place at the TUS Gaelic Grounds, the Cork-Limerick Munster final, went all the way to penalties though, having experienced it with St Thomas's against Ballygunner in the All-Ireland club final two seasons ago, Burke feels that there are better ways to decide a stalemate.
'If you win great and if you lose, it's the worst thing in the world. We had played Ballygunner two years ago and we won.
'And obviously delighted we won, but at the same time I'd be of the opinion of replay.
'Just that's just personal, I just think like, I don't think penalties are a fair reflection on where a team is at, as in you could have five great penalty-takers and maybe the other team only has three, and it's not really reflecting on hurling throughout the team.
'So personally I'd be going for a replay, but that's just again personal preference.'
