Galway pleased by early show

National Hurling League: Kilkenny's second successive hurling league defeat on Sunday has been observed as significant on two counts: as the first real drop in form in two seasons for the champions, and as evidence of form going in the other direction for their conquerors Galway.

According to Ollie Canning, one should read any significance only into the second count.

The Galway defender yesterday reflected on the three-point win at Pearse Stadium in a way typical of any game in late February: nothing is won yet, and it's way too early to start writing anyone off.

But Canning admitted that it was one of the better Galway performances of recent years, and has set them up nicely to reach the second phase of the league.

Kilkenny, in contrast, need all they can get in their remaining three first-phase matches - against Laois, Clare and Dublin - to stay in the hunt for a third successive league title. Another defeat will almost certainly resign them to the bottom half of the next phase, where the only thing they can battle against is relegation.

"We all know it's early days," said Canning. "Kilkenny are a couple of weeks behind, between holidays and All Star trips and things like that. And I suspect they'll be putting in some extra work over the next couple of weeks to try and get back up to the level they were at this time last year.

"But it did give us a bit of confidence. That's still a fine Kilkenny team and they had a lot of their first choice players out there. So it's always good to know you can beat them if the game goes well for us."

Certainly Kilkenny played all out for the victory in the closing stages, having closed the gap to two points with only minutes remaining. Canning puts Galway's survival down to a fully committed team performance.

"We got a good start, going five or six points up. Kilkenny came back at us, but our guys did some great hurling around the middle of the field, and the forwards took some great scores. So I think we deserved the win in the end."

That improved spirit is central to the different dimension of this Galway team, but manager Conor Hayes has also started to fit things together in a more constructive way. While Canning continues to perform flawlessly at corner back, Fergal Moore has fitted nicely into wing back.

There are some fresh faces, too, like wing forward Johnny O'Loughlin, formerly of goalkeeping fame, out of Loughrea. Eugene Cloonan has also put his injury problems behind him and is fast rediscovering his old form.

"I feel Conor does know the guys that bit better this year," added Canning, "and knows the set-up better. Like any new job you take, the first year is a learning process, and I'm sure the management did things last year that they'll do differently this year. And unless you're learning along the way you're going nowhere."

Other changes in the background include the implementation of the hurling review committee, which has helped to bring some further money into the county preparations. As a result, the team have already had a training weekend at Glasgow Celtic, which included a meeting with Martin O'Neill, and another training trip is planned before the start of the championship.

For now, though, all thoughts are on the league. And perhaps more than any other team Galway are eager to go all the way, thus cutting the gap between the end of the league and the start of the championships.

"It is true that we aren't out for a good few weeks after the league. And I know some of the teams - in Munster, say - are complaining because they're straight out a week later. So it probably does suit us a lot more than the other teams, and we will be going hard for it. But Galway go out trying to win the league every year. We've got off to a good start now, and hopefully we can keep it going."

What is certain is that a hurling buzz is slowly starting up in Galway again. The next test against Clare on Sunday week will tell even more, yet Canning is still looking further beyond.

"It has been up and down for the past few seasons with Galway. But two years ago Clare beat us by one point, and Tipperary beat us by one last year. So we feel ourselves we're not that far off the mark. Maybe we just need a few more breaks, and a small bit of luck. It's funny, some years you can lose by a point, and other years you can win by a point. Hopefully we can make the push to win by one."