OUT OF THE WEST
Andy Smith is a rare beast — a Tribesman that has toppled Tipp
IT FELT like a gale had blown across Walsh Park that March afternoon but by the time the Galway team bus inched its way out of Waterford, the players knew another storm awaited them at home.
The Tribesmen’s meek eightpoint defeat in the Allianz League quarter-final had sounded sirens across the west.
Former manager John McIntyre, in his guise as Connacht Tribune sports editor, captured the mood when he wrote a few days later that the squad ‘had lost their way completely’ since the 2012 All-Ireland final replay defeat, that there was a lack of leadership in the team and Anthony Cunningham had ‘only a couple of months to save his job’. It simply reflected what was being said on the streets of Athenry and Gort.
Even that it was ‘only the League’ was little solace for Cunningham or his players. They had stayed in Clonmel the night before, evidence of how seriously they had taken the match. Looking back f rom the vantage point of an impending All-Ireland semi-final, midfielder Andy Smith accepts it was a difficult time for everyone involved.
‘Oh yeah, sure after Waterford beat us, all that stuff that was said… yeah, i t was hurtful alright,’ the 32 - year- old Portumna native recalls. ‘But I suppose you have to take stuff like that on the chin and use it as a motivational thing.
‘ We were in a bad place but we just had to get down and work harder than ever before. Start grafting again. And we knew that we weren’t as bad as what we s howed against Waterford. That day in Walsh Park, nobody seemed to perform. But we knew that we were a better team than that.’
Smith is rare among the Galway players that meet Tipperary tomorrow in that he knows what it feels like to beat the Premier County in Championship. That was back in his debut season of 2005, when they got the better of their neighbours in the All-Ireland quarter-final (David Collins, below, is the other survivor from that tie).
Since then, Tipp have held the upper hand. Last summer’s defeat was the most painful as Galway were in the driving seat before they crumbled in the final 20 minutes, conceding 2-10 in that period. In preparation f or tomorrow, Smith has forced himself to relive that horror show a few times to see what went wrong.
‘ It was like a nightmare when I watched it a few weeks ago but you have to try and make sure it won’t happen again. We were six points up with 18 minutes to go and just completely crumbled. We l ost all shape, in the halfforward line and midfield. It was soul-destroying, watching it back, t o be honest.’ Smith was only a substitute back in 2005 but having reached an All-Irel and final in his maiden year, the Portumna man reckoned he would be hurling in August every season. A decade later, this is only his third semi-final. For a county with such a rich bounty of hurling talent, it is an extraordinarily poor return.
‘I suppose, when you get to a final in your debut year, you would hope to be at the top table every year, but it hasn’t been the case and three semi-finals in 10 years, it’s not good enough for a hurling county like Galway, with all the underage success we have had. Things haven’t gone according to plan since 2012. But it’s great to be hurling again in August. It’s a luxury we are not used to in Galway, even if we should be.’
Belief has been restored gradually since that torrid afternoon in Walsh Park. Smith reminds everyone that Dublin should have dumped them out of Leinster on their first day of summer but David Treacy missed a free at the death. Galway left Croke Park with a reprieve and ran riot in Tullamore six days later.
By such small margins are the Championship f ates decided. ‘Dublin could have beaten us if Treacy had got that free, but we gathered momentum after that. It was a good team performance against Dublin in the replay.
‘Obviously, we hit a stumbling block i n the Leinster f i nal, Kilkenny were the better team, but we picked ourselves going in against Cork.’
Smith dismissed all the talk of Semple Stadium being a bogey ground. ‘There was a lot being said about not winning Championship games in Thurles and the history against Cork, but we started off very well and took it from there.’
As one of Galway’s veterans, Smith feels the injection of youth has made the crucial difference. ‘We have a mature squad but it’s a good mix, experienced boys with a lot of youth coming through. And those younger lads have really proved themselves this year.
‘The likes of Cathal Mannion, Pádraig Mannion and Jason Flynn, they are stepping up to the plate. Pádraig is only in his first year, but he’s settled into the corner. It’s been a very healthy mix this year.’
Driving the team forward from midfield has been the bustling, hard-working veteran.
A decade on from having first tasted Championship victory over Tipperary, Andy Smith is ready to taste it again.
‘It’s great to be hurling in August’