Kilkenny v Galway: Jamesie O'Connor looks at the key talking points
Sunday 6 September 2015 14:43, UK
Jamesie O'Connor looks at the main talking points ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland final between Kilkenny and Galway.
Galway's defensive gameplan
I've said countless times that stopping Kilkenny starts and finishes with curbing the influence of TJ Reid and Richie Hogan.
For 40 minutes of the Leinster final Galway did a pretty good job of keeping Richie Hogan quiet. Kilkenny picked him at centre-forward and Galway man-marked him with Daithí Burke, who is probably their best defender.
It was only when Hogan switched to midfield and Burke stayed in the half-back line that he really started to exert his influence.
Much too will depend on where these guys play. Padraig Mannion did okay on Reid in the Leinster final, even though Reid scored 1-3 from play, but you'd imagine Anthony Cunningham will be pilloried if he starts Mannion at full-back after what Seamus Callanan did to him.
There are parallels with the way Tipp and Kilkenny try to isolate the full-back, and it is the single biggest decision Cunningham has to make.
It wouldn't shock me if Daithí Burke was the man tasked with picking up Reid on Sunday. Reid is probably physically stronger than Hogan and on that basis, maybe Mannion would match up better with Ger Aylward or Hogan.
Hogan is comfortable at centre-forward but he can also operate at full-forward, where he caused mayhem in 2012, and he was named Hurler of the Year last year while playing in midfield.
If Hogan's influence isn't what it should be in one position, Kilkenny will move him and try to create a mismatch where a Galway player finds himself in a position he's unfamiliar with.
That's something that will have taken up a huge amount of Cunningham and the Galway management's time - planning for those various scenarios and how they're going to prevent themselves being exposed like they were against Tipperary.
Breaking down Kilkenny
Going to back to 2012 and even Tipp's success in 2010, you've got to start well and get ahead. Once Kilkenny have any kind of a cushion, they do what they're so experienced and comfortable at doing – keeping their shape and forcing the opposition to blink first.
Both sides go out with the same gameplan where they try to drag the opposition defence around the place, to take them out the field and engineer space inside.
Sometimes it's who's prepared to break first, and Kilkenny have proved in that game of bluff, more often than not, that they're the ones that won't break.
Galway need to try and drag the Kilkenny half-back line out the field. That's going to require a lot of discipline, energy and work rate but that's exactly what they brought against Tipperary.
The other thing is movement. Galway played a very conventional formation against them in the Leinster final, where they pretty much played their positions. As a result it made them a lot easier to defend against.
In the All-Ireland quarter-final the Cork defenders didn't know who they were supposed to be picking up. Cathal Mannion and Jason Flynn would pop up in one position and get a score, and suddenly they were sprinting across the field to take up another position.
We saw again in the semi-final where Galway were far more successful in getting the ball into the hands of Flynn and Joe Canning. If these guys get the possession they are accurate and will punish you on the scoreboard.
Galway need to keep moving and try to drag the Kilkenny half-back line out the field. That's going to require a lot of discipline, energy and work rate but that's exactly what they brought against Tipperary.
No doubt about it, Galway are a better, sharper and wiser team for the experience of that Leinster final.
Clinical Cats
With Kilkenny, you know what you're going to get. They're going to play to a certain standard. They had a disappointing league campaign and that meant there was a bigger gap to the championship, but they've simply picked up where they left off last September.
They were outstanding against Wexford, played to a high level against Galway and Waterford, and there is no reason to believe that performance level will drop.
Kilkenny can hurt you in so many ways. TJ Reid may not be doing it at full-forward, and suddenly they can switch him with Power or Walter Walsh, different players with different body sizes.
Kilkenny know centre-back is Iarlath Tannion's preferred position. They would love to see him at full-back or corner-back, a position that requires a different skillset and doesn't play to Tannion's strengths.
It's going to be fascinating to see how Galway go about curbing Kilkenny up front and trying to get those match-ups right.
Goals vital for Tribesmen
Any time Galway have had success against Kilkenny in the past, whether it was the Leinster final in 2012 or the All-Ireland semi-finals in 2001 and 2005, they've hit Kilkenny with goals.
They didn't score a goal against Tipperary last month but it wasn't as if they went through the 70 minutes without creating any chances.
Joe Canning missed a penalty, which you'd normally expect him to convert, and Cathal Mannion was through on goal but hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper. When you get those opportunities in an All-Ireland final you have to convert them.
Like Tipperary last year, Galway have players up front with the X-factor. Canning is a player of similar calibre to Seamus Callanan – physically strong, capable of winning his own ball and doing damage and having a huge impact on the game – while Flynn and Mannion have pace as well as confidence.
Kilkenny have been here so often and are used to the build-up and all that goes with it, but Galway were here in 2012. This isn't unchartered territory for the Tribesmen.
Galway resilience
I was reading a newspaper piece with David Collins and he was saying how the players have taken on more responsibility.
At the end of the day, you cannot be looking to the management to put in the tackles and stick the ball over the bar. They know that if their work rate and intensity is where it was against Tipp, and if their conversion rates are higher than the Leinster final, they have the tools to hurt Kilkenny.
Cork had enjoyed great success when playing with a sweeper against Wexford and Clare, but Galway made mincemeat of that system. It was impressive stuff going to Thurles and beating Cork by 12 points.
They then survived three hammer blows against Tipperary, a side who came mightily close to winning the All-Ireland last year, and still showed the resilience to not panic and keep battling back, and they kept their wits about them to engineer the winning score at the end.
It's going to take a huge performance but every Galway player will take to the field believing that if they deliver a performance, they have every chance.
Kilkenny: Eoin Murphy; Paul Murphy, Joey Holden, Shane Prendergast; Padraig Walsh, Kieran Joyce, Cillian Buckley; Michael Fennelly, Conor Fogarty; Walter Walsh, Richie Hogan, TJ Reid; Ger Aylward, Colin Fennelly, Eoin Larkin.
Galway: Colm Callanan; Johnny Coen, John Hanbury, Padraig Mannion; Aidan Harte, Iarla Tannian, Daithí Burke; Andrew Smith, David Burke; Conor Whelan, Cyril Donnellan, Jonathan Glynn; Jason Flynn, Joe Canning, Cathal Mannion.
Watch the All-Ireland final between Kilkenny and Galway live on Sky Sports 5 HD on Sunday from 2.30pm. Catch the match for £6.99 on NOW TV. No contract.
