Search Results for 'Conor Whelan'

There is an old saying that sport can be wonderfully uplifting one week and brutally unforgiving the next. Galway hurling experienced both ends of that spectrum in the space of a fortnight.

Galway enter Sunday’s All-Ireland showpiece as firm underdogs. But history suggests there are few sweeter things in life than an underdog success story.

The second half of Galway’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tipperary last summer made for painful viewing. The eventual Liam MacCarthy champions swept aside the Tribesmen with an ease that was as alarming as it was sobering in front of a sea of Tipp support.

Galway 3-25 Kilkenny 1-16

History often turns not on dominance, but on moments. A hooked hurley. A misplaced handpass. A goal at precisely the right time. Sport has an extraordinary way of disguising seismic change behind the narrowest of margins.

Some sporting victories end when the final whistle blows. Others continue long after the players have left the field. They travel home on buses and trains, into pubs and kitchens, across streets decorated with flags and into the memories of those who witnessed them.

As days following the Galway hurlers go, last Saturday afternoon in Croke Park will take some beating. Long after the final whistle had sounded, a wave of maroon euphoria swept around GAA headquarters as a unique rendition of N17 echoed around the stadium.

A familiar story, unfortunately. For the second year running, Galway’s footballers were struck down by white-line fever with victory seemingly within their grasp in Croke Park.

Galway will lock horns with Cork for a place in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final this Saturday afternoon in Croke Park.

I’m not going to pretend I foresaw Galway’s Leinster final performance coming because, ahead of Saturday evening’s showdown, I felt a degree of trepidation about facing an in-form Dublin outfit.