Goal-shy Galway too reliant on the masterful Cathal Mannion
Against Kilkenny, Dublin and Wexford in this year's Leinster championship Galway managed just three goal chances, while their opposition combined for a total of 19.
Despite winning two of those three games en route to this afternoon's Leinster hurling decider against Kilkenny - Galway conceded eight goals and scored just the one. That came in the 71st minute against Wexford to give the Tribesmen an eight point lead with two minutes of additional time left to play.
Ultimately when they face the Cats again at Croke Park, throw in at 4pm, Galway will need to create more goal chances and concede much fewer if they are to reverse a 12 point deficit.
Kilkenny scored three of six goal chances in that comfortable first round victory in Nowlan Park on a day when Galway did not create even one half goalscoring chance.
While in their two wins, against Wexford and last time out in Dublin, they scored one goal from three chances - the two missed chances were both easily saved from tight angles under extreme defensive pressure - and they were rather fortunate to concede just five goals from 13 chances.
While Galway have been short on goals they haven't lacked for points - raising by far the most white flags of any county prior to the provincial finals. That is 131 in five matches, and in those three games they managed 79 points compared to 55 from the other teams combined.
Central to that has been Cathal Mannion. The Ahascragh-Fohenagh forward has scored 2-43 in four games, with 1-28 from placed balls and 1-15 from play. In the county's three biggest tests to date against Kilkenny, Dublin and Wexford he scored a total of 0-35.
The 2015 All Star has been in sensational scoring form for his team and in those three encounters his scores and assists have accounted for 54 per cent of his team's total. The 2017 All-Ireland winner has assisted 0-8 as well as winning two of the frees he converted himself.
His other start came against Offaly when he scored 2-8, assisted 0-5 and was fouled for two of the three frees he floated over the bar. Meaning in the four Leinster championship games he has featured in, the 30-year old has scored or assisted 56 per cent of his team's combined scoring. Equalling 2-56. If he'd featured in the 28 point win over Antrim his numbers would be off the charts.
Mannion's scoring is all the more impressive when you consider his shooting accuracy. From 24 in-play shots so far this championship he has scored 1-15.
While in his first season being handed the free-taking reins - before this year he had not even been a consistent free-taker for his club - Mannion has again stepped up and delivered for his county. The number 11 has scored almost 81 per cent of his placed balls from 36 attempts in four matches. With five of his seven misses coming from his own half.
Looking at the three games against Kilkenny, Dublin and Wexford in isolation he has scored 24 of 27 attempts, showing not only an impressive range, which was to be expected given his scoring ability from general play, but also an excellent temperament under pressure.
On average (in-play) Mannion has been directly involved in over 10 scoring opportunities per game. In total he is averaging six shots and just under 0-5 from play per game, almost 0-8 from placed balls, and 0-3 in assists per match so far in the 2025 championship.
While Mannion's form will give Galway fans hope, the reliance on him is a cause for concern.
One of Galway's biggest scorers in recent seasons, St Thomas' Conor Cooney has started four of his team's five games off the bench. Along with his 11 points (nine frees) when starting against Antrim, in those three substitute appearances he has amassed 1-3 from play making him the highest scoring substitute so far in the Leinster championship.
While eight Kilkenny hurlers have contributed to their team's scoring as replacements, only three Galway players have. Nevertheless in a tight encounter, if Micheál Donoghue again opts against starting the 2017 All Star, he could prove the difference maker when introduced.
It was Cooney who scored his team's only goal in the games against Kilkenny, Dublin or Wexford.
However, even if Cooney provides a similar impact off the bench and Mannion continues his free-scoring form - Galway will need a huge slice of fortune to win any game when conceding so many goal chances and creating so few.
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It wasn't the way I wanted my six-year tenure to end, but the whole frustration almost encapsulated my attitude towards All-Ireland quarter-finals. I just didn't like them. And I still kind of don't. Maybe it's just my experience with Dublin that has clouded my judgement because I had a lot of good days in quarter-finals as a player and manager with Clare, beating Galway in 1999 (after a replay) and overcoming Wexford twice (as a manager) in 2005 and 2006. The only blip was the quarter-final defeat to Kilkenny in 2004 after a replay but the drawn game was a magical day, when we looked dead and buried before Jamesie O'Connor nailed the equaliser with the last puck. My first quarter-final with the Dubs was in 2009 when we lost to Limerick in a match we should have won. We had a good year and had made great progress, which was very satisfying, but it was still a missed opportunity that gnawed away at me over the winter. In 2011, we had won the league before losing the Leinster final to Kilkenny, but it wasn't that hard to lift the lads ahead of the quarter-final against Limerick. We'd had a good year. The league final gave us great confidence and the Kilkenny defeat didn't drain a lot of that out of us. I felt we'd beat Limerick, which we did. That was the one high-point but I have never warmed to quarter-finals since. Even though Clare won their last three quarter-finals, I found them frustrating experiences even as a supporter. Maybe it's just the hurling fanatic in me but I always get the impression that half the stadium doesn't care when there is a double-header. Whichever crowd loses the curtain-raiser is gone by the final whistle, while the winners' supporters are out the gap by half-time of the second match. And the whole sense of occasion just collapses like a deck of cards. Cork are a different animal again, win or lose. After they lost the 2022 curtain-raiser to Galway, the rebel hordes emptied Semple Stadium. After they beat Dublin in the curtain-raiser last year, the red wave just swept out of Thurles like a tide washing out to sea. Having the games early on a Saturday afternoon twice in the last three years certainly didn't help, but I have long felt that the double-header just doesn't work and that there should be standalone fixtures. Circumstances have dictated as much now, which I think will certainly make a difference around the atmosphere and appeal of the matches. The Dubs may be part of a double-header with the footballers but at least they'll get a decent crowd in early, while Limerick will arrive to the capital in enough numbers to make it feel like an occasion. I'm glad that Galway-Tipp is in Limerick but I'd have preferred if it was on in Ennis – and not just out of comfort for me. I'm not sure what kind of a crowd will be in the Gaelic Grounds but it certainly won't be a sellout, whereas Ennis would have been. I just felt they should have gone with Cusack Park and made it an all-ticket game. The vast majority of people who will go today would have got a ticket but the scramble would have also drummed up more hype and discussion around the occasion, which, to be honest, has been fairly low-key this week. Much of that is down to the GAA not promoting the quarter-finals enough but it's also probably a result of the distrust around Galway and what team may actually turn up. Galway haven't liked Tipp since the 1980s but they're so Jekyll and Hyde that even their own supporters can't trust them to bring enough anger into this match to make it into the kind of spectacle that their public deserves. Galway were a joke in their opening game in Nowlan Park and, while they recovered well in their next four matches, they were back to their old bad habits in the Leinster final. Aside from a seven or eight minute burst late on, Kilkenny rode roughshod over them. Galway need to cut loose again now because I'd be fairly confident that Tipp will. They're back in a quarter-final when a lot of people – including their own – wouldn't have expected Tipp to have reached this stage at the outset of the championship. They have improved as the championship has gone on, but I also think they're in a far better physical – and mental – state than they were when Tipp were last on this stage in 2023. That year, their form was slowly draining away as the championship progressed and they effectively bottomed out against Galway that afternoon in Limerick. I'm not sure if all the older brigade had bought into the Liam Cahill project in that first year whereas this is definitely Cahill's team now. Tipp almost seemed stuck in neutral on that mid-June evening in 2023 whereas this is a team on the move now. This has all the makings of a cracker but I really think it's down to Galway to make sure that it is. Is there enough badness in them to win a game like this? Everybody is already talking about Cork and Tipp in the semi-final. That's dangerous talk for Tipp but it's music to Galway's ears. Tipp have to block out all that outside noise. They're capable of beating any team on any given day, but can they step up and take down a Galway team now that, on paper, they are better than? I just think that you can trust Tipp more so I fancy them by about three points. When the option of going to Croke Park to take on Dublin was put to Limerick, I'm sure it wasn't even a discussion for John Kiely. As well as Limerick loving the venue, only losing there under Kiely in championship for the second time last year, it's also an ideal opportunity for Limerick to flush that bad memory out of their system before stretching their legs at Headquarters ahead of an expected match-up there with Kilkenny in two weeks. Limerick are too professional to be looking that far down the tracks without focusing on the job in hand, but I can't see Dublin being able to contain a wounded animal hell-bent on retribution since the Munster final defeat. Losing that game on penalties again underlined just how hard Limerick are to beat and, aside from the deficit in physicality and hurling ability, I don't think Dublin can be in the right frame of mind to take down Limerick either. If they had beaten one of Galway or Kilkenny in Leinster, it would have at least given them the confidence to think that they can live with Limerick. But I can't see it. Limerick won't be concerned about putting on a show. They will only be focused on getting the job done, which Limerick will. Kilkenny will come in their own good time.
