Henry Shefflin looking for sweet spot between form and blooding talent ahead of Cork clash

A lot done, more to do. For Henry that is, not Bertie – though given events of recent days, perhaps both.

Year two of Henry Shefflin’s Galway project undergoes its most stringent stress-test of the fledgling 2023 season when Cork arrive at Pearse Stadium on Sunday. It marks Shefflin’s 21st competitive match at the helm.

In those first 20 games (Walsh Cup, League, Championship) Galway have won 14, lost five and drawn one. Their only defeat at Pearse Stadium was to Wexford 12 months ago.

Shefflin picked up his maiden piece of silverware as Galway manager last Saturday, not that the team bus of the Walsh Cup champions was welcomed home by well-wishers at bonfire-illuminated crossroads.

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The season is only heating up, and it is clear Shefflin is still attempting to supplement his squad with fresh talent – he has used 38 players so far.

In 2022, Galway gave game time to more players during the league than any other Division One team. They used 35 players – in comparison Wexford, Tipperary and Limerick tried out 31 each, while Clare and Offaly gave run-outs to 29 apiece.

Conor Hayes managed Galway to a Division One title in 2004 and is aware of the need to hand individuals their shot while still trying to achieve positive results for the collective.

“They will probably have to experiment a bit because they are going to need players as the year goes on,” reckons Hayes.

[ Ciarán Murphy: Case of Galway minors to test if hurling counties can see beyond own self-interest ]

“Some of the lads you try just won’t be ready for it and some of them won’t make it to the level required this year, but you have to try them in games because only there will you find out what they are really capable of.”

Johnny Coen is the only experienced player to have retired and Galway have several hurlers still to return.

But Shefflin has decisions to make about the spine of his team. Will Gearóid McInerney, who in the absence of Daithí Burke has recently operated at full-back, be deployed at centre-back as the season opens up? Or could Shefflin look to swap Burke out to number six? Will Conor Whelan stay at centre forward or move back inside?

Brian Cody built an empire around a solid spine down the centre of his Kilkenny teams and Shefflin, you feel, would like to mould Galway in a similar fashion.

Seán Linnane, who partnered Tiernan Killeen at midfield last Saturday, is the only player to have featured in all four of Galway’s games so far this term.

And what of David Burke? The dynamic midfielder who captained Galway to the 2017 All-Ireland title has been the engine of the team for well over a decade. He became the county’s record championship appearance holder last year and has featured in 64 SHC matches.

“I don’t know how he has been able to keep going like he has,” remarks Hayes. “He has been a superb player for Galway and when you consider he has been going almost non-stop with his club as well, given how he plays every game at 110 per cent, it’s difficult to expect him to go for 70-plus minutes on each occasion he goes out for Galway.”

Galway have also experienced a difficulty in transitioning successful minor players to the senior grade. They won All-Ireland minor titles in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

While those from the more recent sides are still quite young, the likes of Jack Grealish, Tom Monaghan, Evan Niland and Brian Concannon were on Galway’s 2015 All-Ireland winning minor team and have only started making steady claims for inclusion in recent seasons. Niland’s prowess from placed balls make him a potentially match-winning player.

“Henry doesn’t want to be guessing entering the championship,” adds Hayes. “I always say, if you are guessing on players ahead of the championship then you are in trouble.

“You want to have about 20 players that would make your team without it being weakened, that’s the way most managers are looking at it because players lose form, get injured, get suspended, so you need a player coming in as good as players they are replacing.”

[ National Hurling League: Galway coast past Wexford, while Tipp beat Laois and Kilkenny down Antrim ]

Hayes highlights last year’s All-Ireland semi-final as a test bed for discovering what separates Limerick and Galway.

“Limerick took off some of their top forwards but the replacements that came were able to see them kick on to win the game,” says Hayes.

Graeme Mulcahy, Tom Morrissey, Gearoid Hegarty, Darragh O’Donovan and Seamus Flanagan were all taken off during the second half of that contest, with Limerick introducing Peter Casey, Cian Lynch, David Reidy, Cathal O’Neill and Conor Boylan. Reidy scored three points in a game Limerick won by that margin. Galway didn’t get any such impact from their bench.

But the 2023 season has started encouragingly. In four games – three in the Walsh Cup and one in the National League, though their Division 1A clash with Wexford did also double up as a Walsh Cup final – Galway have kept opponents goalless in three matches.

They have also had an impressive spread of scorers, something that has been a pillar of Limerick’s success. The Tribesmen had eight different scorers against Dublin, 10 against Westmeath and 11 against Antrim.

In last week’s win over Wexford, there were 12 different Galway scorers. Of all the top-flight teams, only Tipperary (who had 14 scorers in their turkey-shoot against Laois) had more players on target.

Following Galway’s league triumph under Hayes in 2004, the Tribesmen lost to Kilkenny in round two of the All-Ireland qualifiers. It was a different era when Galway did not enter until after the provincial championships.

“The league was an important win for us at the time, but we had peaked I suppose for it and sometimes teams do that and then fall back,” recalls Hayes. “Galway will want to do well in the league this year but while also trying to find players. It’s a balancing act.”

Shefflin will look to land on the sweet spot as he walks that wire in the weeks ahead.