Ian Burke targeting Galway success over personal gongs
Wednesday 21 November 2018 13:59, UK
Galway star Ian Burke says that he values team progress higher than any All-Star award.
The Tribe forward enjoyed a remarkable 2018, helping Corofin to the All-Ireland club title before breaking his way into the Galway starting team, playing a major role in earning their first All-Ireland semi-final berth in 18 years and it was capped off with an All-Star award.
"That was brilliant, the All-Stars were good old craic," reflects Burke. "Daithí (hurler Daithí Burke, Ian's first cousin) got his fourth one so he'd had a couple of nights out at it. It was brilliant. It was nice for the seven Galway footballers to be nominated, it was a good testament of the year that we had with Galway and to win one was a huge honour and obviously for Daithí as well, it was huge for the family."
It was a welcome bonus at the end of the year, but nothing Burke particularly ever strove for.
"We're more focused on what Galway football did rather than who won what, so we're focused on winning a Connacht title, beating Kerry, getting to the semis. They're good end of year accounts. We've ticked a lot of boxes. It's something we'll try to build on for the next year. We're all about the collective, it's a 30 man game now, each team. We're focused on the team rather than what individuals do."
Kevin Walsh's side enjoyed a positive league campaign, going through Division 1 unbeaten before putting a respectable fight up to Dublin in the decider.
However, it provided a challenge for Burke and the returning Corofin contingent to break into a solid side. Burke had to make do with a spot on the bench for the Connacht quarter-final against Mayo before he took his chance.
"In a certain way with Corofin this year we were looking at Galway in the league and they were having a phenomenal league and did well in the league final against Dublin," he added. "I just couldn't wait to get back in, there was such good positivity around the Galway camp and excited as to what the summer would bring.
"It takes a while just to come up to speed with inter-county football and learn all that goes along with it. That was a massive learning curve for me and I used a lot of that through Corofin and then when I went back in with Galway, it was just a matter of trying to get to the level I was the previous year.
"I think they both complement each other well, playing with Corofin and playing with Galway, you develop different attributes and different skill sets with both sides. It's good to merge the two and try to do well with both teams."
Burke feels the future is bright for the westerners as they prepare to build upon what was a year of progress.
"We're looking to probably evolve and try and build on what we did last year. I think if you look at the guys, even Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh and Sean Kelly in their first years playing have been nominated for All-Stars. So I think there were trial games on, we got one or two lads back, so hopefully we can get lads to mix in and make similar positive impacts and drive this on further. We're excited about 2019 and yeah hopefully we can build on last year."
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