WHAT NOW for Galway hurling? Whatever remnants of confidence they had were shattered in Tullamore on Saturday evening, and manager John McIntyre made no effort to deny it.

“I appreciate more than anyone that the critics are going to have a field day,” he said. “I heard some of the comments coming off the field, about management, and the players being a disgrace to Galway hurling. We have to live with that for the next fortnight.

“I’ve said this to the players, that after tonight you can throw in the towel, wave the white flag, but we’ve worked too damn hard. We’re going to stay together, and hopefully the players will avail of the opportunity to retrieve their reputations, along with the management, in the qualifiers.

“We’re all very disappointed. We came to Tullamore with our eyes open, knew what Dublin were going to bring, and I thought we were prepared for that.

“We missed an awful lot of chances, struggled to get into any kind of rhythm, and in fairness, I told them before the start of the second half I thought Michael Wadding was extremely hard on Galway in the opening half.

“Having said that I’m not blaming the referee for losing the game. There’s collective responsibility here. We have to try and retrieve our reputation in the upcoming qualifiers.”

Given his profession, McIntyre is in tune with what’s being said in the papers, and inevitably the reports of Galway’s demise were aired live and in person: “I know it mightn’t have looked it in that performance, but those players are men of the highest integrity.

“This is the ultimate test of character now for everyone associated with the Galway senior hurling team; if we don’t avail of that opportunity, the big headlines in the papers, that Galway are too soft, we might all have to accept maybe that’s fair comment.”

For Dublin manager Anthony Daly, the heat is off going into the Leinster final against Kilkenny. “You’ll all be sending us to Medjugorje or somewhere thinking they’re going to kill us,” he said, “but look, it’s a fantastic prize for winning here, avoiding either Limerick or the losers of Clare-Tipperary in the next round.

“We’re in the final, and we’ll treat it as a day in itself, meeting the greatest team that ever played. Why wouldn’t you look forward to that, taking them on, nothing to lose? We’ll relish that.”

It wasn’t the perfect Dublin performance, but the way they adjusted to the loss of Tomás Brady and to the red-carded Ryan O’Dwyer added to their credibility.

“We rode our luck a little in the finish,” admitted Daly, “down to 14, and then Dave Treacy went off injured. We’d already lost Tomás Brady so we were a bit makeshift and patched up. But fair play to the fellas out there, they showed great belief in themselves. They backed themselves, came out with balls when maybe they had no right to, showed a new confidence, that was great to see.

“They kept their concentration, did well on the day. They’re a good bunch of lads, they want to do well. We’ve been in the wilderness so long, but these are times, to be in Tullamore on a Saturday night, in your 20s, where else would you want to be?”