Galway manager Michael Donoghue has praised his players after the Tribesmen won the 2017 All-Ireland Hurling final.
Liam MacCarthy is heading west after Galway beat Waterford by 0-26 to 2-17 at Croke Park on Sunday.
Speaking to Off the Ball's Oisin Langan afterwards, he said: "It's absolutely fantastic. Since the semi-finals, preparations couldn't have went any better for us and I keep saying it since we came in, these boys, their application has been top-class.
"From the whole management's perspective, going back to the latter stages of the Wexford game, these boys took ownership of it. When you're in that position it's a lot easier from my side of it and the players deserve all the credit," he added.
Galway's David Burke lifts the Liam McCarthy. Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
"We knew the start was going to be crucial and we went four or five up and then Waterford got the goal. You know, I thought we kicked on again. Look, Waterford are a serious team and we knew they were going to come at us all guns blazing. You know, we have the height of respect for them and for Derek and his management team.
"They showed great resilience as well coming back from when we were five up and the second goal was a bit of a kick in the teeth for us but I thought we showed great resilience again and a bit of composure to go up the field and get a few points again.
"And at half time the message was you know 'we're doing fine'. We just made a few tweaks and we thought Tadhg de Burca was on more ball than we'd like in the first half so we did something different at the start of the second half," he added.
The full post-match interview can be heard here:
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