Media given short shrift in Ennis; Croke Park has some kinks; Tipperary lean on experience; pressure rises on Henry Shefflin
Galway manager Pádraic Joyce celebrates his side's win the Connacht final against Mayo with his coaching team and Sean Fitzgerald. Photograph: Bryan Keane/InphoOne of the statistical details of Galway’s retention of the Connacht title was that it marked the county’s first three-in-a-row in the province for 40 years. A survey of such sequences throughout their history reveals a mixed experience.
Serial provincial success has been the starting point for six of Galway’s nine All-Ireland titles. The other three came in 1938, sandwiched between Mayo’s Connacht crowns in 1937 and ‘39; more recently in 1998, again with Mayo both preceding and succeeding them, and the one that completely broke the mould in 2001.
A Munster Council official then approached the press box to inform journalists that the Banner hurlers were indeed training at 5pm and the ground would have to be vacated before they started. An exchange of views and several phone calls later, members of the press pack were packing their bags and scampering off to a hotel in town.
Imagine if the British press reporting on Northampton v Leinster in Croke Park on Saturday were told to make themselves scarce afterwards because there was a training session about to take place on the pitch? The Munster Council, to its credit, is one of the most progressive and engaging of the provincial councils and it seems its officials might also have been caught unawares by the training session.
The DART being out for the weekend for engineering works – they really couldn’t have picked a different weekend? – meant that all the traffic coming in via the Finglas and Ballymun exits off the M50 gave the whole thing an added authentic feel. The Back Page in Phibsboro offering free pints to anyone with a Brown Thomas Bag will presumably be a promotion that lasts through the rest of the championship.
McGrath made his championship debut 15 years ago, which was the same year that Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher played his first league match. His impact off the bench in the final quarter was immense, scoring a point, creating a couple of scores, and having two critical involvements in the move that led to Tipp’s equaliser.
At the same time Wexford’s win, their first of the campaign, injects real hope and meaning for them – a first win over Galway since the 1996 All-Ireland semi-final, and Wexford supporters won’t need reminding what happened after that.
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