Galway minor manager Mattie Murphy is very pleased to have a Galway minor team back in another showdown on the first Sunday in September against either Dublin or Waterford: “It is good to be back in a final and last Sunday’s game will be a help to us. Clare had a harder run into last Sunday than we did and it took us a good while to settle. We were hesitant and paid them too much respect in the first-half and we really didn't settle into our pattern.”
“They dictated the trend in the first half. We shot nine or 10 wides in that first half and they were not even good wides. They were busier. Getting in tackles and in our face and some of our lads didn't like it, but all of a sudden we found if we led and put ourselves on the front foot they weren't too happy either.”
“We changed things around a bit at half time and brought in a few lads in the second half and that helped us. We got a bit of momentum and we won the second half by four points. The goal was a dithery one but they are all three points," said Murphy.
He also mentioned the strength in depth of the current Galway panel:
“Thankfully we have a very strong panel with real quality on the bench. That makes a big difference and there were a couple of fellas perplexed not to be on the first 15. They had an agenda going out and thank God they took it that way to prove us wrong. We have used 23 players already in the championship and the lads who came on the last day made a big difference.”
“We took it handy this week as there are club championship games on this weekend. Hopefully none of the lads pick up any injuries. But with such a strong panel we are hopeful of having three more weeks of good training under our belts before the final. There is not much point in getting to a final unless you are going out to win it and that is what we will be focusing on exclusively for the next three weeks.”
