Opinion- ‘I’d imagine both teams will go all out to win this game”

It was a great start to the championship and it was really exciting particularly in Munster with obviously a topsy-turvy game between Clare and Limerick where the All-Ireland champions had that great spell in the end scoring 3-6 to 0-3 in the last ten minutes or so.

In Waterford then, the home side overturned a Cork team that turned up flat on the day and I suppose Waterford more or less went back to basics in sharp contrast to during the league where they tried out a number of different formations and tactics that simply weren’t working.

Against Cork they then got a few more lads back and they also went a bit more unstructured with an orthodox 15 on 15 and they really reaped the benefits.

You then also look across to Wexford Park where Wexford and Dublin played out a drawn game.

I think Wexford will be kicking themselves a small bit after having a good lead heading into the last few minutes.

Dublin then struck late to grab two late goals and get a draw and with many people saying those two counties would be fighting it out for third place in the group, it’s a game Wexford will look back on with a bit of disappointment.

There were a lot of great results and a lot of results that leaves it all up in the air for the next round of matches which is exactly what we want from our first round of games.

On Kilkenny, it will be interesting to see what way the injuries work out after Eoin Cody, Eoin Murphy and Adrian Mullen all went off against Antrim.

I believe it’s two knocks and one muscle injury, so it’ll be interesting to see, but obviously this game against Galway will be a big one.

Kilkenny will want everyone on the field but at the same time both teams will still be keeping one eye on a Leinster final and that’s where they’ll want their full complement of personnel.

I think Derek Lyng will look at it and think if anyone is a risk that there’s no need to take a chance but it will be interesting to see with those knocks how they will play out and whether all three will be available.

The teamsheet on Thursday or Friday evening will really tell a lot but they are three very influential players and Derek would love to have them going into any game for an option to be playing or at least coming off the bench.

You can see the strength of the Kilkenny squad as well with the way they performed at the weekend.

If you even think back to the league, Billy Drennan came on and scored a penalty in the very first game and something similar occurred on Sunday as he hit 1-6.

Owen Wall was also very impressive and anyone around Kilkenny knows that his biggest strength is his electric pace and scoring 2-2 off the bench is huge.

Derek will be looking at that and thinking that it’s great to know that if a game is opening up a small bit, someone like Owen Wall could provide the pace to tip the scales in Kilkenny’s favour.

So despite the fact that Kilkenny romped home for a comfortable victory, there were still performances there that Derek will be really happy with and in particular those two players as they are young.

Especially Owen as it’s his first full year on the county panel. Getting 2-2 is great scoring regardless of the opposition you may be up against.

The scoreline was huge but Derek will still be delighted with the bench as they took their chance and weren’t waiting around for the final whistle.

This weekend will be very different, Galway have a great home record in Pearse Stadium but even if you look back at the drawn game in Nowlan Park last year, both teams played out really good games and while many thought there was a bit of shadow-boxing going on, they will still go at it on Sunday as they will want to finish on top of the group and guaranteeing that place in the Leinster final.

I don’t think either team will be holding back but it is interesting that Kilkenny haven’t done so well in the round-robin games with Galway and Derek has been getting rid of a few of those unwanted records recently so he’d be very happy to get in to Pearse Stadium and come away with a win as they’d have one foot in a Leinster final at that stage.

If you look at Galway’s game with Carlow last week, they started with Conor Whelan and Evan Niland on the bench which would not have been viewed as their strongest team on the field.

Galway got dragged into a bit of a dogfight in that game but Carlow have good players too and are well capable of hurting teams.

They probably don’t have enough strong players all around the pitch to really hurt the likes of Galway but nevertheless it was still a competitive clash.

This weekend will see Galway go as close to their starting 15 as they can and that’s without any injuries and the fact that it’s Kilkenny in front of them and not a more perceived weaker county will mean that they will very much be tuned in for this game.

Galway will want to get the Kilkenny monkey off their back too as in the real big games it has been the Cats who have had the edge and a lot of people will think that they should have won last year’s Leinster final.

Nevertheless it is Kilkenny who have come out on top in recent Leinster Final meetings and Henry Shefflin and the players in the Galway dressing room will be eager to get a win and if they do face the same opposition in the Leinster final then they at least know that have that banked from the last meeting with Kilkenny.

That will be an important motivating factor for Galway and I’d imagine both teams will go all out to win this game.

Wexford look a better side this year so there is still the potential for them to upset Galway or Kilkenny so I don’t think either team can afford to take their foot off the gas on Sunday.