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Hurling

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David Burke: 'This is an opportunity for redemption'

David Burke at the launch of the All-Ireland Hurling Series at Dublin Castle.

David Burke at the launch of the All-Ireland Hurling Series at Dublin Castle.

By John Harrington

David Burke says the Galway hurlers are viewing Sunday’s All-Ireland Hurling Quarter-Final against Clare as a shot at redemption.

They shipped some criticism for the manner in which they were overpowered by Kilkenny in the second-half of the Leinster Hurling Final.

Not surprisingly, the stance they took to force Anthony Cunningham out as team manager at the end of last season was used by some as a stick to beat them with in the wake of the defeat.

Those critics will have a field day again if Galway are beaten by Clare so the Tribesmen go into the game with a good deal of pressure weighing on their shoulders. But Burke believes they would be better served viewing this game as a positive opportunity rather than a pressurised occasion.

“Look, you can think of it two ways: an opportunity for redemption, use that as a motivation factor, rather than thinking of it as a big game, more pressure, Thurles, quarter-final against Clare,” he said.

“Take that away from it and use the other approach. That might be better for us.”

Now that the dust has settled on their defeat to Kilkenny in the Leinster Final, it’s possible to look at their performance in a more positive light.

It’s true they were out-thought and out-fought by Kilkenny when the game was there to be won in the second-half, but it shouldn’t be forgotten they out-hurled the reigning All-Ireland champions for most of the first half when they landed some top-class scores.

David Burke

David Burke

And as much as the defeat was bitterly disappointing, Burke believes losses to Kilkenny are easier to brush off than others because you know you’ve been beaten by a team that has set the highest standards for the past 15 years.

“Well it's happened with Kilkenny and every other team as far as I can see,” he said. “Since Cody's took over ourselves and Cork are the only teams that have beaten them three times in Championship. Tipp have only beaten them once.

“They've done it to every other team, it's just finding a way to do it. We had them kind of rattled and I thought they were kind of panicking a bit. They brought on Richie Hogan, who's a serious lad to bring on and he kind of got them out of a small bit of a hole after half-time. That kind of helped them to go on and the goal they got, some poor defending on our behalf under the breaking ball.

“The positives, with Joe not scoring from play we have Cathal Mannion with five points from play, Conor Whelan with three, Conor Cooney with two, Joe Cooney with two. They're good things like and we played really good defensively in the first half and part of the second half and responded well to the goal.

“Just really when we needed to push on, similar to the All-Ireland final and similar to the Leinster Final and other games that we've played against them, they seemed to find that little bit more. I don't know how they do it like.”

Former Clare and Galway manager Ger Loughnane was more vocally critical of the Tribesmen than anyone else after the Leinster Final defeat.

He described them as “gutless”, and Burke says he can understand why Clare people might fear Loughnane’s words will give the Galway players some extra motivation to down the Banner on Sunday.

“Oh you can, definitely,” he said. “They’d be thinking we can use that as an advantage in a way but we know the system they play in Clare. The sweeper with Cian Dillon the way he sits back. They play with huge intensity and a big tempo, moving the ball at pace, getting it to the likes of Podge and Tony Kelly.

“They make you work after that but, like, I’m sure they will have a plan for us. I’ sure they will be worried playing Galway because we have some seriously good forwards as well. The fact that Joe didn’t play that well the last day, I’m sure there will be a kick in him in the quarter-final.”

Canning’s performance was disappointing against Kilkenny, but Burke thinks the Galway forward’s hard work goes under-appreciated when he doesn’t shoot the lights out himself.

Joe Canning

Joe Canning

“I’d be a good old friend with him. He got a bit of stick last year but he has actually added something to his game last year that people didn’t really see,” said Burke.

“In the years before that everything was expected to be on him whereas last year other players stood up around him and chipped in with a lot of scores. That was the ability of him to bring others into the game and taking pressure off himself as well. Suppose he is doing that again this year to a certain extent.

“Things just didn’t go well the last day. He hit frees well the last day if you can take one positive out of the game. I’m sure he will know himself, he is a serious quality player and Clare backs know full well when he is in form he is hard to stop.

“His ability to take (out) two or three backs and then maybe another Galway forward can come up trumps – the likes of Cathal Mannion, Conor Whelan or Conor Cooney.”

Canning will surely be fired up to produce a better individual performance himself this weekend, and Burke believes that’s the approach they all need to take.

Rather than worrying about justifying themselves as a team or legitimising the stance they took to oust Anthony Cunnigham last year, he thinks the simple goal of trying to improve yourself every day you play is all the motivation they should need.

“Really you'd be looking at just bettering yourself all the time like,” he said. “You can use that kind of motivation but it'll only get you through certain games.

“Like the Clare game, maybe lads will use that, but every game comes after each other fairly quick so you have to find a bit of motivation yourself.

"Better yourself, whether it's tackling or scoring or stopping another player or something like that. You use that in different ways to get yourself up for games.”