GAA Digest: John Mullane gets last laugh on Davy Fitzgerald

What's going on in GAA this week

Galway Wins
GALWAY boss Anthony Cunningham was more than happy with his team’s 14-point win over Offaly in the Leinster semifinal on Sunday.

The westerners will now meet Kilkenny or Dublin, who play this Saturday, in the provincial final next month after they hit the goal trail in Portlaoise.

“We would be happy any day you get into a Leinster final and get over the semifinal,” said Cunningham. “We were happy with our display today but we have a bit of work to do I have no doubt.

“We would probably be unhappy also that we conceded some scores that we will be looking hard at. It’s a great win for the lads, they have done everything we asked, but we will need to improve to get over a Leinster final.

“We need to be sharper in our play all over the field. It’s another step up for us the next day, but we have the players and we are well up for it.”

Forward Cyril Donnellan said that the Galway players are excited by the prospect of a first Leinster title.

“It’s massive -- no-one ever from Galway has won a Leinster medal. The lads inside the dressing room know the importance of it,” said Donnellan after he scored three points against Offaly.

“It was a great move for Galway to go to Leinster and a Leinster medal would be as important to anyone in there as anything.  We’re four years in there and we’ve only contested one final in 2010.

“Kilkenny killed us off after 20 minutes and we would have been disappointed with it at the time. We’ve a chance to build on it now and see where it goes.
Offaly boss Ollie Baker was critical of his team’s defending against Galway.

“It was suicidal defending for the first 15 minutes and Galway got goals,” said Baker. “It was just defenders not standing up, not turning the man backwards and once they got past us.

“We just gave away one or two soft goals and once you do that you’re fighting an uphill battle completely.”
 
Kildare Wins
KILDARE were 13 point winners over Offaly in Sunday’s Leinster SFC semifinal, but manager Kieran McGeeney was unhappy about their failure to find the back of the net.

“We created a lot of goal-scoring chances, but we didn’t take them,” said McGeeney as his team booked a semifinal date with Meath.

“Definitely though it was a decent day out. We did well with 19 scores and we had eight points from play. You can be happy with it, but there’s loads of room for improvement.”

Offaly boss Tom Coffey had no complaints as his team were sent packing for the All-Ireland qualifiers and a trick tie with Tipperary.

“Beaten by the better team by far,” he told reporters afterwards. “We knew coming into it that Kildare had brought it to a different level, and I suppose themselves and Dublin have broken away from the pack in Leinster anyway, and are in the top three or four to win the All-Ireland.

​
Nster.com