Big, burly men.
That’s how you could describe Galway this year. A physical force to be reckoned with.
Whether it was against Waterford or Tipperary, or any other team, they conquered along the way to All-Ireland glory. You just got a sense that the Tribesmen were physically conditioned at peak levels.
Strength and conditioning is more important than ever these days, so when you physically have an edge on your opponent you invariably have a mental advantage too.
The appointment of Lukacz Kirszenstein may well have been a huge help to Galway lifting the Liam MacCarthy for the first time in 29 years, this September.
The Polish native recently worked with the Irish Women’s rugby team as well as the Tipperary hurlers, so it was a coup of sorts when he joined the Galway backroom team.
Conor Whelan certainly gave him quite a lot of credit, he was speaking on the latest episode of The GAA Hour:
“I started working with Lukacz Kirszenstein and he was a massive element, from a personal level, someone I was able to speak to and able to get very good advice off,” Whelan said on the show.
“At 21-years-of-age you’re always going to be open to learning and learning new things and I suppose Lukacz just showed me instead of necessarily putting on body mass I could maybe get leaner and I felt that that was a massive thing for me.
“In 2016 I was perhaps carrying too much weight and a small bit bigger. I know people say that I put on serious size this year but I was actually carrying more mass last year, I was 89 kilos and this year I was 87 and that was huge for me.
“I felt freer and I felt I was really able to maximise my ability and I felt that my stamina was improved from not carrying so much weight instead of gassing out I was actually leaner, therefore, I was more durable and able to last longer in game.
“I felt that was huge for me really and that was something that Lukacz really hammered home.
“In 2016 I’d be taken off after 55 or 57 minutes and I was completely out on my feet and completely gassed out and I’d felt I’d done the same level of training but perhaps maybe without carrying as much muscle mass I was maybe able to last longer and my stamina was improved.
“That was massive for me that I was able to stay going and last the full 70 minutes. I finished every game this year for Galway and I did think that was huge.”
The Young Player of the Year for 2017 wasn’t the only one to praise their coach, after winning the PwC Player of the Month Award for September. Gearoid McInerney also had glowing words Kirszenstein for his role:
“I’d always be in touch with him, I always really emphasize my strength and conditioning and that would really be a big side to my game so I’d be close enough to him in that kind of way,” the All-Star said.
“I’d ask him for a few bits of advice on that.
“He definitely had a major impact.
“I don’t think there’s a ceiling on strength and conditioning, and the same with hurling, there’s no ceiling on how much you can improve.
“You kind of need to be better next year to be the same so we have to really strive to get through that so there are no limitations there really.”
