Cyril Donnellan: 'Only an All-Ireland will silence the critics'
Cyril Donnellan
By John Harrington
Cyril Donnellan knows nothing less than winning the Liam MacCarthy Cup this year will silence the Galway hurling team’s critics.
Expectation has been a constant companion of Galway hurling teams down through the years even though they haven’t won an All-Ireland since 1988, but this year it has been ratcheted even higher than usual.
The fact the players forced out manager Anthony Cunningham in the wake of last year’s All-Ireland Final defeat to Kilkenny has ensured that. For a good chunk of the Galway hurling public, the only way the team will justify that show of player-power will be by winning the All-Ireland title.
“Our expectation with Galway is of a very high standard with the underage success, that brings that,” says Donnellan. “That's the burden that comes into the senior panel. Obviously that's not always the case. I suppose until you win an All-Ireland, you can't really say you've answered those critics. It's all or nothing every year.
“It can be difficult. We're in an All-Ireland semi-final now. At what stage do you leave the competition? I don't know. If we're to not get over the line, I'm sure there'll be more criticism.”
The players must have known they were backing themselves into a hard corner by deciding to initiate Cunningham’s departure of as manager. But Donnellan insists it’s not a decision that still weighs heavily on their shoulders.
“Inside, no. We’ve drawn the line on that. To a lot of people, it’s probably that you have to win an All-Ireland or nothing. But since I started, since 2008, it was that anyway. It was an All-Ireland or nothing.
“So I don’t think it’s a case that within the squad, we feel more under pressure this year than other years. I think every year is failure unless you win an All-Ireland. I didn’t think in 2012 that a Leinster title was good enough, or that an All-Ireland final appearance was good enough.”
Cyril Donnellan
There was no shortage of people lining up to kick the Galway hurlers when they were down after their Leinster Final defeat to Kilkenny. The players showed their resolve by then defeating Clare in some style in the All-Ireland Quarter-Final, but Donnellan doesn’t believe it was necessarily a redemptive victory.
“It was built up in the media for the few weeks leading up to it that we'd a point to prove,” he says. “Inside the camp we weren't really looking at that. We were just trying to get to the next game and find a more consistent performance. The Leinster final, we thought we'd hurled fairly well in patches.
“What happened to us has happened to nearly all inter county teams that are trying to win All-Irelands in the last number of years. We came up against a Kilkenny team that turned us over.
“We came in for probably more criticism that other teams have come in for, for that. But the three weeks leading up to it, we were trying to take the good points out of the Leinster final and build on them.
“We focused a lot on ourselves so we're delighted to get the performance on the day. We thought we worked fairly well on the day, it was a shoulder to the wheel performance.”
For all the criticism Galway have received, they’ve been one of the most competitive teams in the country in recent years.
Since 2012 they’ve won one Leinster title, played in two All-Ireland Finals, and are now one match away from playing in a third. They’ve banked a lot of experience in that time, and Donnellan is convinced they’re better than ever this year.
“We’ve improved as a team,” he says. “We’re able to deal with things a bit better. We’re a good few years together as a team. You look at David Collins, Fergal Moore, Tan (Iarla Tannian) – even up to Joe (Canning) and number 28 onwards.
“Different players at different times we’ve needed. The likes of Cathal Mannion and the younger lads have added a small bit of an extra dimension to our game.
“I think Daithí Burke has been excellent in last year’s Championship and this year’s Championship to date. I think our midfield has done well.
“Our forwards are working very well together. There was talk of Joe not performing in a Leinster final. But you look back at the clips, he was involved in a lot of key plays. Cathal Mannion had a good day too based on getting points.
“Some days it’ll run for you and you’ll be on the receiving end and on the others you still have to be doing the hard graft. Players are starting to realise that’s how it goes.”
