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Galway senior hurling manager Shane O’Neill believes his team “left a lot behind” in terms of missed opportunities in Leinster Senior Hurling’s final loss to Kilkenny.
Tribe members were in control for long parts of the game and at one point in the second half had a five point lead.
However, two Kilkenny goals in just over a minute from Richie Hogan and TJ Reid nullified that lead and while Galway was back in the lead again after that setback, they were ultimately outscored 2-20 to 0-24.
While those two quick goals proved to be the game’s turning point, O’Neill feels it was a lack of killer instinct in front of the goalposts that ultimately cost him at his side.
Speaking about Saturday’s game, he said: “It was a good performance, but we left a lot behind, I think it was 16 to 6 in missed chances, so we will have to work on that over the next week.”
O’Neill’s attention will now turn to qualifiers next week, but he still believes there are positives to his performance against the Cats.
“I thought we were playing really well when we were five points up, 0-20 to 0-15, then they scored the two quick goals, but I thought our recovery was really good after that.
“It was a great reaction, we went up another two points, but Kilkenny kept attacking us.
“We were unlucky with some balls off the post, but frustration is not a term I would use, but it is disappointing that we did not win.
“It was a good performance, but we left a lot behind, I think it was 16 to 6 on missed chances, so we’ll have to work on that over the next week.
“Obviously when a team scores two goals, they have a lot of momentum, but I think it all happened in a minute and then, to be fair to the guys, they came back and actually got two points ahead.
“After that, it was tit for tat and we were unlucky with some of our goal attempts.”
Just as the game seemed to be getting away from them, Richie Hogan drags Kilkenny back with a wonderfully scored goal. Kilkenny 1-15 Galway 0-20. Watch the highlights of The Sunday Game at 9.30pm @ rte2 #rtegaa #thesundaygame pic.twitter.com/c6yPTyoICx
– Sunday’s game (@TheSundayGame) November 14, 2020
Meanwhile, for Kilkenny manager Brian Cody, the victory represented his 16th Leinster title and his first in four years.
While Cody was eager to savor the win, he admitted that his thoughts are already moving to the next game: an Irish semi-final.
“It means a lot, first and foremost it is a Leinster final and that goes above many things because a couple of years ago we won a Leinster final.
“It’s huge for the people and huge for us tonight and of course it leads us to a semi-final in Ireland in two weeks, which is a wonderful place to be.”
“We are absolutely delighted to be leaving here tonight, but we are very aware that there is a grand prize out there and we will see the quarter-finals next weekend and see where they go and play our semi-final.”
“At the end of the day, if we don’t leave her in two weeks as the winner, the enjoyment of tonight will wear off very quickly.”
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