An Moltóir drew three key lessons from the events in Croke Park last Sunday…

First, the weaknesses in the Tipperary team exposed by Waterford in the Munster final were not just something that happened on the day. Second, despite the best efforts of Noel Lane and Mike McNamara, Galway’s legendary temperamental fragility remains intact. And thirdly, key changes in hurling’s competitive structures must be introduced to allow Antrim to build on the massive improvement they have shown this year.

Fair play to the Antrim players and their coach, Dinny Cahill, for the way they put it up to the All-Ireland champions. Cahill clearly had drilled into them the need to play the ball quickly, and while at times a more studied approach might have paid better dividends, it certainly had the effect of upsetting the Tipp men who were never allowed to settle into a definite pattern of play. Ultimately, however, in the way the championship is structured, Tipperary were always going to have the advantage going into the closing stages of a close, high-tempo battle such as this. Antrim went into this game with just two low-grade Ulster championship games behind them, whereas Tipperary had been through four hard tussles against some of the elite hurling counties. And no matter how much physical and skills training one does, it is no substitute for the real thing.

This new-look Antrim team showed that they can hurl at this level, and a number of excellent individual performances certainly augurs well for the future. An Moltóir was particularly taken by the displays of their goalkeeper Quinn, Kettle and Kelly in the fullback line, McKeegan and Herron in the halfbacks, and McFall in the forwards. Who knows what they would have achieved if Conor McCambridge and Ally Elliott had been available on the day. But now they will have to wait until next spring before taking to the field again, against second-rate opposition in the League, and presumably will have to go through the same routine in next year’s championship. In the immediate term, they would be much better off going into the qualifier competition from the very beginning. In the long term, of course, the old problem of basing the All-Ireland championship around the provincial championships will remain a fundamental obstacle holding back Antrim from joining the elite group of hurling counties.

There are other glaring problems with the current championship set-up. Laois showed last Saturday that they are far too strong for the B championship. When Waterford play Clare in the semi-final on August 11, it will be only their third game in eleven weeks. During this period of high summer, the senior club championship in the county has been virtually at a standstill. While the Déise have been waiting around twiddling their thumbs since the Munster final, Clare have had two tough championship engagements. The whole structure is crazy. As an immediate measure, the GAA should devise a prequalifying series next year involving the Ulster counties and the unsuccessful counties in the Leinster preliminary rounds, with two teams emerging from this to go in with Galway, the Munster first round losers and the Munster and Leinster semi-final losers in the qualifying series proper. In the long term, of course, the provincial championships will have to be separated from the All-Ireland series altogether.

But back to Croke Park last Sunday. For Nicky English, there must have been a sense of déjà vu as Tom Costello was cleaned out, David Kennedy went missing and the midfield failed to establish any kind of platform. Only for the superb play of Paul Kelly and Eamon Corcoran at wingback and the heroics of John Carroll up front, Tipp could have been in real trouble. They also, of course, had much better substitutes than Antrim, but now the team mentors have no idea what their best formation is likely to be on a given day. Against Kilkenny, who can expose a team’s weaknesses with clinical efficiency, the wounds may already be fatal before the first aid men arrive.

As for the other game last Sunday, there really was little between the teams in overall play but, in a tight finish, it was always likely that the mentally tougher Claremen would survive. Galway can look great when they build up a head of steam, but digging games out in the trenches was never their forte. In the first twenty minutes, with the Clare halfbacks unable to clear their lines, the nippy Galway forwards were able to pick up breaking ball and inflict damage. However, once the Clare defence settled down (and especially after David Hoey was replaced), this source of Galway scores dried up.

Galway also struggled at midfield, where Colin Lynch put in a mighty effort throughout. John Reddan also played a lot of ball in the first half, but his persistent tactic of sending low ball into the full forward never paid off. Ollie Baker had a big impact in the second half, with his batting and flicks repeatedly denying Galway possession. For all that, Galway still had enough possession to win this game, but a series of bad misses in the middle of the second half probably proved their undoing. They also lost their shape badly in the second half, and several good balls into space by their backs and midfielders were gobbled up by the Clare defence without a Galway forward anywhere in sight.

The whole thing must have been galling for the likes of Greg Kennedy (An Moltóir’s man of the match), Ollie Canning and Liam Hodgins, who played superbly at the back for Galway. It was surprising that Eugene Cloonan, who was doing nothing at full forward, was not brought out the field and that Joe Rabbitte, who made little impact on the forty, was not given a stint at the edge of the square. For Clare, the fact that their forwards only scored five points from play in the entire match must be a major source of worry going into the semi-final against Waterford. The Déise forwards are also generally bigger and stronger than their Galway counterparts, and if they can spread the ball the way they did against Tipperary, then the Clare defence could be in for a tough afternoon.

The choice of officials could also have a big bearing on the outcome of that game. An Moltóir has never witnessed so many incorrect or missed calls as he did last Sunday. Willie Barrett made so many mistakes that one wonders if he is still up to it. And more vigilant officials would surely have stomped down on the antics going on in the Clare fullback line. Maybe it is time that top-class referees were used as umpires in vital games such as these.