Babs Keating has cast his eye over last weekend's drawn Leinster hurling final between Galway and Kilkenny and identified where he believes it went wrong for the reigning All-Ireland champions.
Writing in his Irish Sun On Sunday column, the two-time All-Ireland winning manager cited a hunger possibly sated by lifting Liam MacCarthy last September, a misfiring Joe Canning, a moany Padraic Mannion and Gearoid McInerney not hitting the heights of 2017 as reasons for a disappointing showing from Galway.
Those were in addition to Johnny Glynn's gloves. Babs doesn't like players wearing gloves. Wearing two means you get a mention in his column.
"One thing that caught my eye was Jonathan Glynn wearing a glove on both hands," wrote Keating.
The 74-year-old spotted just two other players wearing gloves in last weekend's provincial hurling finals. Glynn came off the bench with 12 minutes to play in the drawn game.
I don’t know any hurler worth his salt who wouldn’t sacrifice a rap on the hand to play in a Leinster final.
It’s unforgivable that the biggest and strongest fella on the pitch, 6ft 4in and nearly 16st, had to wear them on both hands.
Gloves are a handicap in hurling, no question about it, and if I was Donoghue giving him a jersey I’d have a serious chat about it first.
I’ve tried them on a few times over the years to see if you’d get the same feel for the ball, and you just don’t.
Keating is willing to be more forgiving to a defender who chooses to wear a glove but a forward wearing one he will not accept.
