Spare a thought for the good hurling folk of Galway: they face another Championship dogged with crazy hope, after their side's prodigious league final display against Tipperary at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday; a victory as one-sided as it was unforeseen.
Former Galway manager Anthony Cunningham was among those on Newstalk's Off the Ball last night to Galway's victory, and while on air, he was asked about his controversial exit from Galway back in 2015. Having been beaten by Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final earlier that year, Cunningham left his post following a motion of no confidence from the players. It was a bitter dispute: Cunningham wished to remain on, and with the Galway County Board promising to appoint a mediator, the dispute dragged on for almost six weeks before Cunningham agreed to step aside. He said last night that he had moved on from the entire affair, but did say that the way it was handled wasn't right.
For me there is a line drawn in the sand, you have to move on. I love hurling, I love my county, and I want to see the guys winning, so I've moved on from that. What happened wasn't right, and a number of the key guys involved in that are not present or involved now, and I think everybody realises the manner of it wasn't good and it wasn't sport. For me it wasn't sport, it was definitely trying to wreck somebody's head, if you want to go that route. You can't dwell on that, you have to move on.
To explore the idea that key figures are no longer involved: Cunnigham leveled the blame at older players who perhaps felt threatened by the involvement of younger players, while saying that there was "no rancour" between the and the players:
To me, it was just guys who probably saw the end of the road of their careers for some of them and knew that there were a lot of new players coming on the block. And that was our policy that we had to try new players and get them moulded and gamble that you get them developed. Even now guys like Gearoid McInerney, he was on the panel. Guys were totally delighted to be in there and working hard, but there was no rancour.
You can listen to the slot in full on the Newstalk website.
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