Ollie Canning expects Tipperary to get the better of his brother Joe and Galway in Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final.

The sides meet at Croke Park for a place in the 2016 Liam MacCarthy Cup decider and former Tribe defender Canning fears that the Premier County are closer to the finished article:

"Using my head I think Galway will be really up against it. Tipp are a really settled team. Pádraic Maher at wing back, Brendan Maher and Michael Breen in midfield and with John McGrath up front now they seem to have three or four players who have brought a new balance to it this season," he told The Irish Times at the launch the sponsorship of European GAA by Kirby Engineering & Construction.

"They will be disappointed with the Galway defeat last year, even though it came down to a puck of the ball. Séamus Callanan had a really fine game but Tipp would have been disappointed with the forwards around him. That is not the case now.

"Galway have unearthed some really exciting forwards but the problem over the last couple of seasons is we need a majority of players performing at a high level every game.

"Every player, including Joe, knows you won't win at this level with two or three players performing. The group that has come together for Galway now are a very talented bunch, very natural forwards. Down through the years one criticism of Galway was we didn't have enough finishers. We have four or five now but you need players winning hard ball around the middle of the field."

Tweet

Most Read Stories