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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Joe Canning criticises Galway over "frustrating" decision they made against Limerick

Galway legend Joe Canning criticised his native county for what he thought was a tactical change they made at half-time.

The 34-year-old was on punditry duty for RTE as he watched his former teammates suffer a 2-24 to 1-18 defeat to four-in-a-row chasing Limerick at Croke Park on Saturday.

But Canning wasn't happy to see the Tribesmen not push up the field as much in the second half and believes they suffered massively as a result.

READ MORE: Limerick v Galway score recap and result

He said: "They must have changed tactics or something at half-time because when we were looking at it straight away we saw Cathal Mannion go deeper into the second half, we saw Daithi (Burke) sitting a bit deeper, we saw Joe Cooney sitting a bit deeper at times.

"I don't know why they didn't attack. We didn't see Cathal up the field as much in the second half.

"It had to be tactical by the lads at half-time because why didn't they push up and attack. It's like they sat off Limerick almost. Limerick were able to get those little passes around and then there was no intensity because they didn't have the numbers there.

"For me that's the most frustrating part is it was working in the first half for large periods. Yes it didn't work near the end because they did sit off, but they definitely changed something.

Limerick’s Aaron Gillane celebrates scoring the first goal of the game (©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

"Looking from here anyway it looked like they changed something at half-time."

Despite Galway's second consecutive All-Ireland semi-final defeat at the hands of Limerick, Canning believes Henry Shefflin is still the man to lead the county forward.

He added: "I think the team is in a better place. Yes, we haven't won anything in Leinster finals and All-Ireland semi-finals but he's brought on a few new players this year and last year as well so I think he has another year if not two.

"It's too early to say anything like that (time for him to leave). I'd be definitely trying to help keep him there anyway as long as possible.

"He's Henry Shefflin, probably the greatest player we ever had. He's managing Galway and we'd like to keep him there."

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