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17th June 2021
11:12am BST

The fruits of this labour are to be seen on the field for Cooney, who made his breakthrough last year and is steadily making himself a fixture in the Galway full back line. More of a half-back inclination, he's had to adapt his game but that's something he was eager to do.
"You’re always trying to build on different areas whether that’s physically – you’re trying to build speed, you’re trying to build agility, you’re trying to build from an aerial perspective on a technical side. Then there’s other areas as well from a tactical side that you try to improve always to learn the game more. There’s the mental side of it too making sure that you’re in the best position going out onto the pitch on any giving day.
"It’s always good to mix things up. It’s a new challenge for me. Something that I’ve certainly embraced – there’s a lot I can learn from it. There are a lot of differences between the half-back line and full-back line especially in the modern game.
"Even if I do find myself at centre-back I know that I can feed into corner-back with confidence as well. So a lot learned from it and I guess you’re hoping to build on what I have and keep moving forward I guess."
Cooney says that the main difference between the lines is the cut-throat nature of the full back line, where one mistake can cost you."In the full-back line the ball is probably hitting grass in front of you more so. It is more difficult to read the game. In the half-back line you’re trying to read where the ball is coming from at any given point and more-so trying to get on a break or win an aerial ball. Whereas in the full-back line you’re just tracking your man and making sure that he’s not getting the ball in his hand. Definitely a different challenge but one I enjoy for sure."
All told, he's happy with where Galway are at, and how they've adapted with the changes in the game."Bringing it back to where Galway were in 2017, I guess Limerick came the following year and raised the bar again. They brought their own spin on things so it’s always great to see different teams bringing an instinct (?) to it and that ultimately forces every team to raise their game. The game is definitely getting faster and faster. There’s more goals being scored. I think that’s just a result of each team trying to bring a new spin and like that, challenging from a different perspective so it’s definitely getting faster but I think it’s great to see both from a players point of view and also as entertainment for a spectator."
[caption id="attachment_230073" align="alignnone" width="1000"]
16 June 2021; Shane Cooney of Galway in attendance during the launch of the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues Finals and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship at Croke Park in Dublin. The Littlewoods Ireland Division 1 Camogie League final is live on RTE this Sunday the 20th June at 7.30pm. The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship begins Saturday 26th of June #StyleOfPlay. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile[/caption]
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