Galway minor manager Jeff Lynskey knew he had a special bunch of players on his hands when they braved the snow to train on Ballyloughane Beach last March.

The team went through the year unbeaten, culiminating in yesterday's retention of the Irish Press Cup at Kilkenny's expense. 

"We couldn't get a pitch, I brought my two kids up to my own club [Liam Mellows] and believe it or not I got three shovels to try to move the snow off the Astroturf," he explained to the Irish Daily Star.

"After about 25 minutes one of them bolted, he said, 'Dad, this is lunacy'. So what we did was I looked out and the tide was gone out in Ballyloughane Beach. We had 54 lads there and we trained for an hour and a half.

"If you're looking for one moment that encapsulates the whole year, it was that. It was the character they showed. It was minus whatever, four or five out, and they lads came out, they were falling into puddles of salt water, sea weed, you name it, the whole lot and they didn't shirk it.

"Because at the end of the day they wanted to get to Croke Park, to wear a Galway jersey. In fairness to them in the second half today they showed that."

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