John Lee is baffled as to why, despite rigorous training, Galway are not performing, writes Ian O'Riordan.

Galway's fairly miserable hurling form of late has baffled us and the county's fans and, most of all, rattled the teeth of manager Ger Loughnane. Yet the only ones accountable are the players, as centre back John Lee had no problem admitting yesterday. And they're the only ones who can put things right.

By all accounts Galway were poised to explode onto the hurling championship, at least on the basis of their training. Loughnane had them hitting 3-16 or 3-17 in 40-minute practice matches, their fitness levels had reached Olympic standards, and the only disquiet in the camp was in the bellies, and the rumblings of hunger pain.

Instead all they've resembled so far is a damp firecracker rather than a Roman candle.

"Yeah, the standard of hurling at training is unbelievable," said Lee, Galway's All-Ireland-winning minor captain of 2004. "The scoring, the touch, the striking. It's just unexplainable how everything fell apart in the games. None of us can put a finger on it. We just know we have the ability to produce a much, much better performance.

"Obviously we'd all be very dejected over our performance last Saturday. But training again on Tuesday night was great. I just know if we play at 80 or 90 per cent of our potential we could beat most teams in the country. And if we play at 100 per cent we could beat anyone.

"But that's the whole mystery. Can we produce what we should be able to produce? And so far we're just not able. But I still believe we will. We've no choice really."

Lee was talking ahead of Saturday's final-round qualifier against Antrim at Pearse Stadium, a game Galway need to win to ensure their quarter-final place. The defeat to Clare last Saturday was bad enough in that it left them in such a precarious position, but it was made worse by the nature of their performance - a wilted effort that produced a pathetic 14 points.

Loughnane kept his team in the dressingroom for about an hour afterwards, to rant and rage - you might have thought - against his players. But as Lee explained, the mood was subdued.

"To be honest, there was very little said. It was mostly silence, and our captain, David Collins, did most of the talking, trying to lift spirits.

"Ger was just very disappointed that we didn't produce the sort of goods we were producing at training, so all he really said was we're back training on Tuesday night, that it's up to us to restore pride in the county.

"It wasn't that we were surprised at Clare's intensity, because again our intensity at training has been a lot higher than that. It was only our own poor performance that really surprised us. Our fitness levels and strength should have been well able to cope. We've spent three months in Tubber on a sand track."

One reasonable theory for Galway's failure to click as a team is the lack of a settled line-up, Loughnane only deciding his starting 15 in the team huddle prior to throw-in in Ennis last Saturday.

Lee was one of the few players to start in his familiar centre-back position, although he wasn't about to simply blame their problems on that theory.

"Well it could be that, because we do seem to lose a lot of our organisation, especially in the second half. But we knew that would be the case. The idea was that everyone would be concentrating as if they were starting the game, everyone would be fully focused. Even the subs wouldn't lose concentration.

"It's not something I've experienced before, but I don't think it affected me. And from talking to other players it didn't affect them either. But I think Ger has a game plan there, and it's just not coming off for us at the moment."

Defeat to Clare has also left Galway facing Kilkenny in the quarter-finals, assuming they do get past Antrim: "Well yeah, but if we do get over Antrim, the aim at that stage is to go on and win the All-Ireland. And if you had to play Kilkenny in a final or a quarter-final, I think we'd all prefer a quarter-final. They won't have played many games, but again we aren't even thinking about that now.

"Antrim blew Laois off the pitch last week, and we struggled to beat Laois. They have something to fight for here, and they're going to. So I think the most important thing on Saturday is the win, whether we do it in style or whatever."

In the long term, Lee would like to see Galway enter the Leinster championship, or better still enter an open format.

"Personally I think it would be good to go in with Leinster. But I know our secretary is against it at the moment. I don't know why, but we had no games whatsoever since the end of our league last April, only training games.

"Anything that's an advantage to Galway hurling I think should be taken. In the long run I think the provincial championships will have to be scrapped anyway, and the championship played in group stages. That would benefit every team.

"I know Munster can't see their provincial championship done away with, but I could.

"It would be great to have a group like Cork, Clare, Galway and, say, Wexford. And two teams to come out. Every game would be tough."