There is always a sense that we'd have long given up on Galway hurling were it not for the occasional pound of flesh they extract from Kilkenny. The perennial Tipp v Kilkenny face-offs get all the press but in Brian Cody's time Kilkenny's record against Tipperary reads: Played 9 Won 7 Drawn 1 Lost 1. His stats against Galway are far more egalitarian: Played 13 Won 8 Drawn 2 Lost 3. (Of course, it's against Cork that they've done the least boot-filling – Played 7 Won 4 Lost 3 – but those figures increasingly feel like they're from another time).
Seven minutes
So Galway already have the first building block going for them – uniquely in the Leinster Championship, they’re not beaten before they leave the dressing-room to face Kilkenny. It’s not enough, but it’s a start. And last year in Tullamore, it was a tonic in the finish – it’s hardly a stretch to posit that no other team would have found the belief to wipe out a 10-point margin in the closing seven minutes as they did.
The current group have a few other bits and pieces going for them too. In Cathal Mannion and Jason Flynn, Joe Canning finally has a couple of outriders to take the heat off him. Not only is that of incalculable help to Canning's mental state, it eases the feeling within the rest of the team that their full-forward is option one, two and three when they're coming out with the ball.
Galway trio
Though Cody won’t quail for a second at the idea of Paul Murphy, Joey Holden and Jackie Tyrrell facing the Galway trio inside, we can be sure that supply-side economics will inform Kilkenny’s approach. Against Dublin and Laois, Galway have had the luxury of time and space in which to furnish crisp and early ball into the full-forward line. That’s not going to happen tomorrow.
As ever, Kilkenny just look to have a surfeit of reliable performers. Galway might pull a rabbit out of a hat and spring a surprise but even if they do, we know it’s a given that most of Cody’s players will hit their marks.
Richie Hogan and TJ Reid should score the guts of 2-12 between them, Cillian Buckley, Conor Fogarty and Mick Fennelly should win and successfully process well over half of the ball that comes their way. Kilkenny should win the war around the middle third and govern the peace as they see fit.
Both sides arrive in good fettle but equally short on anything to shout about formwise given their drearily smooth passage to the final.
Though it’s obvious that Galway have momentum behind them and a sense of mission within them, it’s equally clear that Kilkenny are the most formidable team in the country until proven otherwise. You can’t really call against that, can you?
Last meeting: Leinster SHC semi-final replay, June 28th 2014, Tullamore – Kilkenny 3-19 Galway 1-17
Betting: Kilkenny 2/5, Galway 11/4, Draw 10/1
Just the ticket: Hogan & Cusack €35; Davin €20; Students & Seniors €20 (Cusack only)
Injuries: Galway are waiting on David Collins (hamstring). Kilkenny could have either or both Colin Fennelly and Richie Power back.
Galway: TBC
Kilkenny: TBC
Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath)
Verdict: Kilkenny
