Joe Canning: Months of soul-searching await Limerick and Galway after failing to do the basics right

Irish Times

2 days ago

Everybody has had a few days to take stock and it's still hard to make sense of it.
Limerick
will spend a long winter trying to work it out. They wiped out Dublin's half-time lead in 15 minutes, were playing against 14 men and had the breeze at their backs. How did they lose the game from there?
It came down to fundamental stuff, the kind of things that we expect Limerick to do with their eyes closed. Handling errors. How many balls were dropped? When they were winning All-Irelands, Limerick were the best team in the country at ball-to-hand. The ball always stuck.
Sometimes there is no explanation for something like that. I've been involved with teams that didn't drop a ball in training on Thursday night, didn't drop a ball in the warm-up, and when the game started there were balls dropped all over the place.
Tactically, Limerick stuck to their principles. When
Dublin
went a man down, Limerick didn't push up. They stayed zonal at the back. That meant Dublin could still keep a foothold in game in the middle third.
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But none of that would have mattered if the passes were sticking. A big part of Limerick's game plan over the years was moving the ball out of defence with quick accurate passes. The glue that kept the whole thing together was that passes went to hand. Too often on Saturday that didn't happen.
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Really good players like Seán Finn were coming out of defence and making inaccurate passes. Barry Nash, who has been their best playmaker from deep positions over the years, was taken off in the second half.
But they still had plenty of chances to win the game. If they had pulled it out of the fire, we would have praised Limerick for sticking to their principles. Cathal O'Neill was in for a goal chance early in the second half, but he mis-controlled Cian Lynch's pass. The pass was just a small bit off and O'Neill's first touch was just a small bit off and the chance was snuffed out. Close games come down to fine margins.
Seán Brennan made a brilliant save from Aaron Gillane, but from that range, the goalie shouldn't have been given any chance. If that shot had gone in it would have been very hard to see Dublin surviving.
Limerick's Aidan O'Connor in action against Dublin's Paddy Smyth. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
It reminded me of the save Nickie Quaid made in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final against Cork – down at the same end – when he threw himself at Séamus Harnedy and knocked the ball away. That was a massive turning point in the life of this Limerick team. A goal then, so late in the game, would have clinched it for Cork.
It will be fascinating to see how much of a turning point Brennan's save will be for Dublin and Limerick. Dublin's performance was outstanding, but it will just be seen as a flash in the pan if they can't back it up against Cork in the semi-final, or if they don't come out next year and give the Leinster championship a serious rattle. For that victory to have any value it can't be a one-off performance.
For Limerick, there will be months of soul-searching before they play another match. When great champions are beaten there are always knee-jerk reactions around the place and people prepared to write them off.
I'm certain that Limerick are not finished. I see them coming back as strong as ever. What they produced against Cork in the round-robin game is still the most complete performance by any team in this year's championship. They lost the Munster final on penalties, having created more than enough chances to win the game at the end of normal time and especially in extra-time.
John Kiely has always put a lot of value on the month off for provincial winners, and with Limerick's miles on the clock they might have needed that time more than ever this year. Ultimately, when they reflect on the season, they might have more regrets about the Munster final than the Dublin game.
Barry Murphy after the defeat to Dublin. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Galway
will have a lot of thinking to do over the winter as well. I don't think the way they're trying to play suits the players they have. Galway were turned over 40 times, which was only four times more than Tipperary; but they were turned over 15 times in midfield, which was nine times more than Tipp.
Galway's approach is to work the ball to the middle third and play it inside from there, but the build-up kept breaking down. Just like Limerick, too many balls didn't go to hand. When you drop balls you make yourself look worse than what you are.
Nobody wants to hit the ball into their forwards from too far back. Typically, the retention rate for deliveries from inside your own 45 is only about 33 per cent. But every team should be looking to get the ball to their inside forwards as quickly as possible. Kilkenny do it with TJ Reid, Cork do it with Brian Hayes, Clare do it with Peter Duggan when he plays inside, Dublin did it last weekend with John Hetherton. It sounds a little old school, but with the right players and the right ball, it works.
Galway's forward play never clicked this year. When Eamon O'Shea was involved with Tipp their forward play was all about space and movement. We haven't seen that with Galway yet. Their conversion rate from play was just 27 per cent – eight scores from 30 attempts. That's a crazy number.
Galway are better than they looked against Kilkenny and Tipp, but they're not getting the most out of the players they have. That's a basic problem. But if Galway didn't have the players, Micheál Donoghue's job would be impossible. That's not the case. They will come back stronger. I think Limerick will too.