DJ Carey | Eugene Cloonan | Martin Comerford | Brendan Cummins
Ronan Curran | Gar Farragher | James 'cha' Fitzpatrick | Paul Flynn
John Gardiner | Niall Gilligan | Damian Hayes | Conal Keaney | Eoin Kelly
Eoin Larkin | Fergus McMahon | Andrew Mitchell | Pat Mulcahy
Sean Óg Ó Hailpin | Ben O'Connor | Joe Rabbite | Dan Shanahan
Henry Shefflin | Tommy Walsh

Galway's ace attacker, Ger Farragher, was the top scorer in this year's hurling Championship. The Castlegar club man, who made his debut back in 2002, has become the heart of the Galway attack in the absence of Athenry forward, Eugene Cloonan. Farragher's Championship total of 3-58 helped Galway to the All-Ireland final, and despite scoring nine points in the decider, his side were pipped by Cork.

Galway went into the All-Ireland semi-final as underdogs against Kilkenny, but a nine-goal thriller, in which Ger scored 2-9, saw the Tribesmen edge out the Cats by a single goal. In the quarter-final, Galway came from behind to see off Tipperary, having beaten Laois, Antrim and Limerick in the qualifiers. Even though he is only 22, Farragher is no stranger to Croke Park as he has also appeared in three consecutive Minor finals.

Galway lost the All-Ireland final to Cork this year. What did you learn
from that game?
We learned that Cork's experience on the big day helped them. Seven of our side were never in an All-Ireland Senior final before, but Cork were there the last two years. We just have to move on, but if someone had said to us at the start of the year that we would get to the All-Ireland final, we would have been happy with that.

What was the highlight of the season?
The win over Kilkenny in the semi-final was the best, because it is always great to beat them. They were huge favourites going into the game and no one was giving us a chance because they beat us so well last year.

Which was the toughest match of the Championship?
The Cork game was the toughest, we played better as a team against
Kilkenny. Even when we got the goal against Cork, they just went down the other end and scored a point. It was really difficult because they led from
start to finish so we were always chasing the game.

Who was your toughest opponent?
The Cork corner-back, Pat Mulcahy, was the toughest person I had to mark
this year.

Galway had more games this year, did that help?
Yes, we didn't have to go straight in at the deep end. Last year we played Down and then had to face Kilkenny. This year, we had games against Laois, Antrim and Limerick before we got to the quarter-finals and they really helped, in particular the Limerick game, because we went six points up but they came back at us.

Who was your hero growing up?
Galway's Joe Cooney. He was a hero for a lot of the Galway lads.

Have you any advice for young players?
Keep practising your skills - just go out with your friends and practise.

What are your hopes for next season?
We have to learn from the experience of this year and hopefully we can go one better next year. If we can keep the same panel together we will give it a go.

© December 2005

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