Thomas Galligan of Cavan is tackled by Philip McMahon of Dublin during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Cavan and Dublin at Croke Park in Dublin.
By John Harrington
Cavan star Thomas Galligan has described the Dublin football team as a ‘different animal’ after experiencing first hand just how good they are in the All-Ireland semi-final.
It was the efficiency of the five-in-row champions in all facets of the game from passing to shooting that stood out the most for him.
“Yeah, very efficient,” said Galligan. “They've nailed the basic skills whereas some lads will take shots from the corner-flag. They don't do that, they take shots from the scoring zone.
“They just do the basics extremely well and it just goes to show that if you can do it at an elite pace and keep your basic skills you can get to the top of the game.
“But, yeah, it's hard to play against because they're just so efficient in what they do. They don't turn over the ball and they play with such intensity in pressing around the middle.
“We struggled to get the ball kicked in because the lads around the middle were under so much pressure on the ball and they had to run it more.
“They're just a different animal to what we played this year…they’re obviously probably one of the best teams that's ever played.
“It wasn't a nice experience, but it was an experience in itself to go out and play against the best team in the country and the best team for the past 6 years that they've been.
“I suppose it just lets you know where you're at with your development as a team. Last year we got to an Ulster Final and we were well beat and this year we came back and won the Ulster Final so we see that as progression.
“Then you got another step forward to play Dublin and you realise there's another step to go before you get to the top of the table with the big boys. It's a big learning experience for us as a team and we'll take that on board for the next few years.”
Because Dublin are so efficient in terms of how accurately they pass the ball, this allows them to retain possession more easily than other teams.
And Galligan believes it’s this efficiency that often makes them look fitter and faster than their opponents, not a superior level of strength and conditioning.
“Everyone at an inter-county level is in and around the same sort of physical build,” says Galligan.
“They’re probably just so good that they don’t have to expend as much energy. They probably play a lot of the game with the ball, and it’s a lot easier to play with the ball than without it.
“So that means that they’re probably able to do more explosive plays.
As teams go they’re up at the top in terms of their physicality side of it, but they’re not miles ahead of every other inter-county team. I wouldn't put them out as being extremely physical.”
Brian Fenton of Dublin gathers possession ahead of team-mate David Byrne and Thomas Galligan of Cavan during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Cavan and Dublin at Croke Park in Dublin.
Galligan started at full-forward in the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin but also found himself going toe to toe with Brian Fenton in the middle of the field at times.
The Raheny man has yet to lose a game of Championship football with Dublin after six years and is now regarded by many as the greatest midfielder the game has ever seen.
Galligan isn’t inclined to disagree with that assessment.
“He's obviously the best midfielder that's around at the minute. I didn't see any of the boys play back in the day, but he's as good as there's been in the last 10/15 years.
“He does everything you need from a footballer. You'd look at him and want to try to get to his level. He's probably the best footballer in the country at the minute.”
So, do Mayo have any chance of pulling off a shock in the All-Ireland Final? Do Dublin have any weaknesses the Connacht side might be able to exploit better than Cavan managed?
“We didn't find any weaknesses the other day anyway so I'm probably the wrong lad to ask about weaknesses,” says Galligan.
“I don't know, it depends. Mayo have showed a different level of intensity this year than from years gone by.
“I think everyone was waiting for Mayo to mess up this year but it hasn't even looked like they were going to mess up since the start of the Championship.
“You'd be hopeful they can give them a game, but Dublin are a well experienced team. It'll all depend on how Dublin turn up. If Mayo turn up with the intensity they've been playing with all year, it should lead to a good enough game.
“But as far as knowing any weaknesses in Dublin, I wouldn't have a clue, to be honest.
“It'll all depend on decisions, little things that could swing the game either way. This championship has been all over the place. You couldn't really say that this team is going to win or that team is going to win because there have been upsets everywhere.”
As for Cavan, Galligan is hopeful that this year’s Ulster title won’t be a flash in the pan and that he and his team-mates will use it as a launchpad for further success in the coming years.
“You'd be hoping that we can build on it. We went from not winning a game in Ulster... I think it was something like 18 years we only won five or six championship games.
“In the last two years, we've won six or seven. That shows the progress we've made. The fact that we got to an Ulster final last year, learned a lot from that Ulster final, and then came back this and put it into practice. You'd be hoping that next year, we can build on that again.
“Everyone wants to get better at football. Hopefully we can add to what we've done so far.”
