Galway hoping for better start in bid to dethrone Wexford
“Camogie is definitely evolving all the time, but that’s the nature of sport,” she said. “Every team sport seems to be getting faster and the people who play it bigger and faster. Camogie is no different in that regard and Wexford are definitely the most physical team in the sport. Physicality is a big part of their game and it’s a strength they’ll try to play to on Sunday. We’ll have our own strengths to counter-act that.
“It’s about strength of mind as much as strength of body too. If the ball is there to be won you have to really go for it while keeping within the rules of course.
“As well as matching their intensity in terms of contesting the ball, we’ll also be hoping to keep it moving quickly and utilising the pace we have in the team.”
They’ll also build some early momentum which they failed utterly to do in last year’s final. Wexford had the match all but won at half-time, and Galway played a fruitless game of catch-up thereafter.
“We just didn’t come out of the blocks fast enough at all last year, and credit to Wexford they did,” admitted Hanney.
“They went for it and that was the difference in the end. We came back at them, but we left ourselves too much to do. We’ll try to get off to a better start, but even if things don’t go your way you have to stick with it. The one thing you can control is your work rate and intensity, and if you keep that up then you’ll get your momentum going again.”
The Galway girls intend to take a leaf from the Kilkenny hurlers book by using the hurt of last year’s final to fuel their performance tomorrow.
“No team wants to come to Croke Park for an All-Ireland final and feel they left it behind them on the day, and we definitely felt a little like that. Having all those experiences tucked away inside will definitely help us,” said Hanney.
“We haven’t had to search too deep for motivation. A lot of the girls have given a lot this year, we really wanted to be back in this final and thankfully we are. I think the squad have learned so much from last year, it’s a huge motivating factor.”
