‘Forget the steps, the defending from Galway was pathetic’

RTE Sunday Game panelist Ger Loughnane has criticised Galway for how they defended Ger Aylward's goal in the first-half of Kilkenny's Leinster Senior Hurling Championship replay loss to the defending All-Ireland champions on Sunday.

Galway got off to a great start at Semple Stadium with Cathal Mannion, Conor Whelan and Niall Burke all pointing early before Johnny Glynn then gave Galway a commanding six-point lead when he scored the opening goal of the game after 12 minutes. The defending champions continued their dominance and were leading by as much as 12 points before half-time when Ger Aylward beat Adrian Tuohy and Gearóid McInerney to score Kilkenny's first goal of the game. There were questions over how many steps Aylward had taken but Loughnane said that he would be concentrating on Galway's poor defending instead. https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1015968379914653696

"The steps is one thing. Henry said it was only 13, Cyril said it was 16 and that doesn't matter," Loughnane said on The Sunday Game. "If I was Micheál Donoghue I would be concentrating on the defending. It's pathetic. First of all McInerney should cut off the angle but look at James Skehill in the goals. He's watching too much of the World Cup. He's thrown himself on the ground. Aylward hasn't got a hurley. "All you have to do is stand up, hold him out and watch his hand. Get the hurley in his hand and stop him from doing it but at the same time for his neutrals it's a good thing they got it."