Horses for courses.
Galway’s approach to Sunday’s All-Ireland final has been swashbuckling. They beat all before them up to their semi-final against Tipperary, with ease, and with style.
The semi-final turned out to be a dogfight, it turned out to be trench warfare, and in the 29 years that Galway have now gone without an All-Ireland, their bottle, their ability to grind a result out when they were against the head, was always questioned.
They did that to win by the bare-minimum against neighbours and rivals Tipperary, and here they are, 1/2 favourites to end the famine.
One of the key aspects in Galway’s ascendancy, according to their manager Micheál Donoghue, has been the tactical flexibility of his players.
The Clarinbridge club man was speaking to Colm Parkinson on the GAA Hour Hurling Show when he refreshingly revealed the respect he pays to his opponents on any given day.
Galway will often cut their cloth in order to deal with their opponents, according to Donoghue, and he doesn’t believe any manager who claims to do otherwise.
“Anyone that tells you they don’t look at the opposition, you know, especially the way the game is gone. We’re always very respectful and mindul of the opposition and how they set up. We’d focus on how we can do something that will affect them or throw them on any particular day.
“It’s not that we rock in and say we’re doing this. We always have huge engagement with the players. We’re always getting them involved with what we’re doing and making sure we’re on the same page. It just creates more responsibility for them,” he said.
Donoghue references the value he places on communication with his players, and maintaining this team bond, something that many onlookers wouldn’t be aware of, given his calm, non-vocal demeanour on the sideline.
During his early days in the role, he shipped criticism for his lack of in-match engagement, from the likes of Ger Loughnane, but Donoghue is his own man, and will lead his troops in his own way.
“I suppose when the game starts, from my own perspective, it’s very much trying to keep the head clear and seeing what’s going on in front of you. That’s the most important thing. The team feed of me doing that on the sideline as well.
“Look, it’s defined by your personality. Sometimes you probably do get more emotionally involved in it. From my own perspective, it’s just the way I am, personality wise.”
You can listen to the searingly honest Donoghue interview here from 18’00”.
