Have they got the hunger?
Tipperary take on Galway in the second of the All-Ireland hurling semi-finals this weekend and sparks are likely to fly at Croke Park as both teams fight it out for the chance to meet Kilkenny in next month’s decider.
Skill, tactics and individual performances are likely to be the main factors that decide the outcome, but some GAA people, often including the players and management involved, are adamant that ‘hunger’ is the most important factor of all on the big day.
It should go without saying that teams should need no motivation when playing an All-Ireland semi-final, but there are a few tell-tale signs which will indicate which players and which team appear to want it more than the other.
Some of the signs are unique to the GAA and some of them are even unique to hurling and are as likely to be spotted in a club championship encounter as they are in Croke Park.
Keep an eye for the signs below on Sunday; safe to say that whichever team ticks the most of these boxes is likely to be well on their way to victory.
Absolute refusal to give anything away during pre-match interview
No matter what the gulf in class between two sides, GAA players and managers are experts in the art of talking up the opposition.
Sure, they might have beaten the same team by 40 points in the league and are 1/40 with the bookies to beat them again, but a player can use a phrase like “we’re in for a ferocious battle” to hide the fact that they know as well as we do what the outcome is going to be.
Davy Fitz, on the other hand, has taken it to a whole new level and quite often says nothing at all… literally.
Speed at which the players run out of the tunnel
If GAA players ever have to undergo a test for speed, then it should never be conducted on a training ground.
No, no, it is practically a scientific fact that GAA players (particularly hurlers) never run as fast as they do when leaving the tunnel before a match.
It’s particularly noticeable when a team gets to Croke Park, where there is ample space for them to stretch their legs and reach a speed that Usain Bolt himself wouldn’t live with.
Jumping over the bench before the team photo
A by-product of sprinting out of the tunnel at such a ferocious pace is the inability of many players to slow down by the time they reach the bench to pose for the team photo.
A man who leaps over the bench is a man clearly tuned-in, while anything apart from a game face and hands tied firmly behind the back during the taking of a photo is severely frowned upon.
Shouldering their own team-mates before the match
The advances of sports science means that most teams have a fairly structured warm-up routine these days, but there will never not be room for the fella who takes one of his team-mates aside so they can flake each other with unceremonious shoulders to get themselves pumped before throw-in.
Amount of times a hurley is pointed by the manager in a pre-match huddle
A manager’s most important words will have been delivered well before a team takes to the field, but television viewers can only see what happens in the pre-match huddle.
Vigorous pointing of the hurley indicates to the viewer at home that a team is well up for battle, while continuous pointing at one’s temple to indicate the need to players to keep their heads is also a popular tactic.
The force of the shoulder with which they ‘welcome’ their direct opponent
Nothing says ‘welcome to the game’ more than a ferocious shoulder from a direct opponent immediately before throw-in, or, more commonly, when a sub has been introduced.
The funniest aspect of this ritual is that many markers often dish out the shoulder while simultaneously shaking the hand of their opponent before throw-in.
It’s somewhat contradictory for sure, but lots of players still religiously adhere to this time-honoured practise to this very day.
Imagine this sort of thing taking place before the first whistle and you’ll get the idea…
The vigour with which they celebrate a free
Now we’re talking. If anything demonstrates just how motivated a player is for game, it is the vigour with which they celebrate the awarding of a free, particularly the first free of the game or at a vital stage in proceedings.
It has now gone to the stage where frees awarded in non-scoring zones will be celebrated with more zeal than a match-winning goal or actual victory itself and this is one trait that appears to have become unique to hurling in recent years.
A free is routinely celebrated by pumping the fist, followed by a 360 degree rotation of the arm, culminating in another fist pump.
If you’re looking for an example, keep an eye out for Tipperary’s Shane McGrath giving a lesson in celebrating a free on Sunday; he and Clare’s Brendan Bugler are expert practitioners of the art.
Celebrating a score/awarding of a free directly in front on an opponent
An unfortunate trait that falls under the ‘sledging’ category, it has been as prominent in hurling as it has been in football in recent years, without receiving the same amount of negative coverage.
The helmets might have something to do with it.
Emotional interview immediately after the match
While you’ll rarely catch a player off guard in the run-up to a game, undoubtedly the best time to get them is immediately after the final whistle when emotions are running high.
https://instagram.com/p/5mziAlTSN2/
Johnny Glynn (above) delivered a classic of the genre earlier on in the Championship, but we doubt anyone will ever match the famous “I loves me county” interview from the great John Mullane in front of a gaggle of adoring Waterford fans a few years back.
Criticism of media who had ‘written them off’ in the build up
Hurlers will find motivation from any possible source they can in the build-up to a game and though the GAA media is becoming increasingly sanitised, there’ll be a stray quote from someone somewhere that will rile up the troops before throw-in.
The quote can often come from the most obscure and often irrelevant sources, but you can be damn sure it’ll be referenced by at least one player post-match as a huge motivating factor, often to the bewilderment of the interviewer and the watching public.
The ‘playing it cool’ post-match tweet
Job done. Thank fans for support. On to the next.
Our first 😊😊💙💛 pic.twitter.com/FBtafArrVR
— cathal barrett (@cbarrett2107) July 12, 2015
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