Galway captain David Burke pictured at the Loughrea Hotel & Spa ahead of the All Ireland SHC Final.
By Cian O'Connell
David Burke is completely aware that a thrilling summer of hurling has unfolded.
The new Championship format has brought intrigue and matches, but Burke has relished the challenge. Galway have participated in eight matches to reach Sunday's decider and Burke is enjoying the journey.
“From the outset, I suppose the GPA were looking at getting more games, or the GAA," Burke says. "The players’ voices were well heard and they just wanted more games really. You just felt training was so much, and big gaps between games, and the ratio of training to matches was pointless really.
"So I think it was a move in the right direction, albeit it was tough going. It probably needs to be tweaked a small bit again, but it’s great obviously for any hurling fan or any hurling fanatic. More games; it’s probably the best Championship ever.”
That is most certainly the case even if has been a physical and mental examination also. “Ah it has," Burke admits. "Definitely, the Kilkenny game and the Clare game, you’ve only a week to prepare again. And mentally you’ve to come down. You've to get the body right again in recovery. I think we’ve done that very well in the two games, and it probably showed in the replays.
“Look, the bottom line was just about getting over the replay and getting onto the next stage. Obviously it puts massive stress on the panel when you pick up injuries like that; we probably had been lucky all year that we didn’t pick up any injuries. We picked up one or two the last day, in the drawn game, with G-Mac (Gearoid McInerney) going out. Look, obviously it’s a good sign of a team when you can put a lad back, just do a job at wing-back and bring in someone in the forwards. So, that was a good thing.”
The St Thomas' clubman, who captained Galway to All Ireland glory last year believes the maroon and white team have further scope for improvement. “I think, yeah," Burke says.
"Naturally, as an individual, all you want to do is improve all the time. "That would be the message that I'd be driving and the rest of the lads would be driving as well. You just want to get better all the time as a team; and I think there’s loads more in us, all the time.”
Have Galway reached the same standards as 2017? “Well, we put up good scores in a good few games," Burke responds. "Probably not with the free-flowing, but I think that’s down to other teams getting better as well and improving and the standards.
David Burke during the All Ireland SHC Semi-Final replay against Clare at Semple Stadium.
"When you see the skill level in every game now and the fitness and all that has improved. It's small margins, and you could see the last day in the Clare replay; it’s small margins that win you games.
"It's down to – in the last five or ten minutes, I think anyway – it's who makes the least amount of mistakes. There’s good scores, there’s tackles and all that, but it’s whoever makes the least amount of mistakes in the last critical few minutes will ultimately get over the line.
"It was no different in the last two games, and the same in the Limerick-Cork game as well. I think two of the most consistent teams are probably in the final this year.”
Burke has been impressed with how Limerick have evolved during the campaign. "They’re a very good team; very good panel, very good squad, and play a lovely brand of hurling as well," Burke acknowledges. "A real hard-working team from what I see, and really playing for each other – you can see there’s a real team ethic in their play. Every lad chips in and does their bit. Look, they’ll be a formidable outfit to play against us.
“They’re big hurlers – but the few big hurlers they have are very good hurlers as well. They're great stickmen, very skilful. That was probably a big thing coming down to beating Cork as well, that they had the belief that they’d big men, able to score, and when they brought these lads off the bench, they were able to finish the job.
"So, I think that has given them massive confidence and when you’ve a team like that, with confidence, they’re going to be hard to beat.”
Despite capturing the Liam MacCarthy Cup last year Burke doesn't subscribe to the theory that there is less pressure attached now. “No, there’s always pressure definitely on every game," Burke remarks.
"And we’re the worst, ourselves, for putting pressure on ourselves going into any game. Players just want to get better, naturally, but look Galway people are still hungry for more success and this team is hungry for more as well.
"Look, that’s the way we’ll be approaching it, another game, and another game that we really want to win.”
