GAA:GALWAY HURLERS have been defended and criticisms of the team deemed unhelpful. According to Brian Hanley, manager of the Westmeath hurlers who played Galway in the Leinster first round and who is a triple All-Ireland medallist with Athenry as well as a recent under-21 selector, the team, which lost to Dublin on Saturday is lacking in confidence, not talent.
“It’s easy to knock them but it’s just not happening at the moment for the county,” he said. “It’s not a lack of effort and it’s not the infrastructure and it’s not players being weak minded because if you go to Galway and see the players there’s no shortage of commitment.
“I worked for the county board for two years. There was nothing that we asked for that we didn’t get. Everything was there. Even now if you look at the players, they have bulked up and the discipline is better.”
The trenchant criticism of the current team came in Saturday’s Irish Independent, which interviewed two former managers, Noel Lane and Conor Hayes, and former All-Ireland winner Brendan Lynskey.
“Until you’ve managed a team to win an All-Ireland I don’t think you can comment on other managers trying to win one,” said Hanley. “They have their own All-Irelands won – fair play to them – but that’s not going to help a Galway team last Saturday or a Galway player to have that in the paper.
“If I was a manager or a player I wouldn’t particularly like that. It’s just suggesting that there isn’t unity in the county, which I think there is. It’s not right. You don’t hear that coming out of Tipperary or Kilkenny.
“It’s very sad to see a Galway player saying after a match that there’s knives in their back. They’re giving up their free time and putting in a massive effort and to hear that in their own county – that shouldn’t go on.
“Are they 100 per cent confident? No. Do they enjoy going training? It must be nearly a chore for them at the moment. That thing in the paper on Saturday wouldn’t do them any good. I heard Tomás Mulcahy saying that they’d put it up on the wall and it would drive them on but these are guys that they played for and that they grew up looking at and admiring in the Galway jersey.
“I wouldn’t criticise; there are enough people outside of Galway to do that.”
One criticism about the county, which hasn’t won an All-Ireland since the back-to-back wins of 1987-88 is that the county’s success at minor level is producing players without the hunger or desire to push on at senior level. Again Hanley rejects this.
“It’s not just this bunch of players. It’s been going on for nearly 25 years and Galway haven’t won an All-Ireland for one reason or another. I think getting into Leinster at minor and under-21 would help because it would bring more competition.
“You can’t fault the work that’s going on in the county and all Mattie Murphy (minor coach) can do is find players and put out All-Ireland winning teams. What more can he do?
“The structure is there in Galway and it’s right. I don’t agree that doing well at under-age affects the winning mentality at senior. It should drive them on. But if you go through Cork and Kilkenny teams I’m sure you’ll find that there’s a drop-off there as well.
“There’s a big number of players that have won minor medals and are playing senior now. They’re still there and fighting hard for Galway.”
Hanley, who was appointed to the Westmeath position on an interim basis just before the championship, saw his own championship came to an end on Saturday with Westmeath’s defeat by Antrim.
“From what I’ve seen in three months Westmeath hurling should be in a better place. The question is why and I’m frustrated today that we couldn’t win that match and then had another game with Carlow and you were in with a chance for the big time again.”
