Shane Walsh expects Dublin to return compliment after fiery affair in Galway
Galway star Walsh says he expects Dublin to be as geared up for Sunday as the home side were in Salthill
Pat Nolan
Shane Walsh of Galway, at Croke Park, Dublin (Image: Seb Daly)
Shane Walsh expects Dublin to return the compliment to Galway after their fiery Allianz League clash earlier this month in Sunday's final.
The sides played out a bad-tempered 0-13 each draw on March 18 which ensured that they would square up again in the decider, their first meeting at this stage of the competition since the home final of 1967.
Dublin's Eoghan O'Gara was sent off while selector Jason Sherlock has been handed an eight-week ban after getting involved in a sideline altercation between rival players and won't be acting in his usual role as the team's runner at Croke Park on Sunday.
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final, Croke Park, Dublin 30/7/2017 Kerry vs Galway Galway's Shane Walsh (Image: ©INPHO/Oisin Keniry)
Galway star Walsh says he expects Dublin to be as geared up for Sunday as the home side were in Salthill last Sunday week.
"It is like the welcome we gave them in Pearse Stadium, we will expect something similar in Croke Park," he said when speaking at GAA headquarters yesterday.
"This is considered their home ground at this stage. It is going to be a difficult occasion for us in that it will be our first time in Division One final as a group and we are playing the All-Ireland champions in Croke Park.
They are so used to this ground.
Allianz Football League Division 1, Pearse Stadium, Galway 18/3/2018 Galway vs Dublin A scuffle breaks out on the pitch between Galway and Dublin players (Image: ©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan)
"But we can only concentrate on ourselves really, we can't be worrying about Dublin.
"You often see teams going out to play Dublin and they are beat before they go out. We won't be looking at what Dublin can do.
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"We have seen it before, we are long enough watching them on television to know what they can do to teams. We are just concentrate on ourselves, getting our own performance right.
"That is what is so important to us. If our performance is good enough, the outcome will look after itself. If it is not, we won't get the result."
Allianz Football League Division 1, Pearse Stadium, Galway 18/3/2018 Galway vs Dublin Galway's Eoghan Kerin carried over the sideline by Jonny Cooper of Dublin (Image: ©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan)
With Galway having experienced very few big days at Croke Park since winning the 2001 All-Ireland, Walsh reckons this is as big a game as he's played in.
"It's our first year in Division One, we didn't say we are going to get to a League final or anything like that, we just wanted to be competitive and be there or thereabouts and push teams so if they are going to beat us, they are going to work damn hard to o it.
"We have had a few breaks but we always said you are where you deserve to be and we probably just about deserve to be there and it's nice to be in a league final without losing a game.
"It's great for the confidence of the group going into Croke Park playing Dublin in front a big crowd.
"It's a great experience lads are going to get myself included.I have never played in front of a crowd, myself included, that is probably going to be there the next day.
"We wouldn't be saying our year is defined by this but it's a chance of silverware and a chance to play Dublin in Croke Park."
Other counties, such as Roscommon in 2016, have struggled on the back of an encouraging League run so soon after promotion but Walsh isn't getting bogged down by that.
He added: "To be honest, you would hear people coming into work and they would be saying those type of things to you. But we can't control that side of things.
"We have seen what happened Roscommon and we saw what happened Derry as well, but we are not setting the stall out for the League, we are setting the stall out for years to come."
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