Tribesmen left to rue a sluggish display in final battle

Galway 2-18

THIS will haunt Galway – an admittedly strange take on their team’s performance which never looked like delivering a second All-Ireland senior hurling triumph on the trot at Croke Park on Sunday.

The concession of three goals to Limerick from turnovers, some appalling marksmanship – reflected in a match total of 16 wides – and with over half of the Galway team well below their best, it almost defies logic that they came within a point of the new champions.

The Tribesmen would surely love to play this All-Ireland final again, but sport doesn’t bequeath such luxuries, leaving Micheál Donoghue’s charges with a mountain of regret at producing their worst display of the championship on the biggest day of all.

The reality is that Galway did so much wrong and, yet, had a suddenly spooked Limerick hanging on for dear life in an extended and breathless period of injury time. Virtually without warning, the men in maroon caught fire in an extraordinary finale which a few of their supporters missed.

And it was hard to blame them for rushing to the exits after substitute Shane Dowling’s goal in the 68th minute left the ravenous challengers eight points clear and seemingly out the gap. The match was over – or so everyone thought.

But in a hurling season littered with sensational comebacks and high drama, we should have anticipated another twist in the tale. Somehow, Galway found the reserves of energy and spirit to take the final to the wire, leaving Joe Canning with an outside chance of forcing a replay in the 79th minute.

It was odds against his free from deep inside the Galway half going over, but the ball could have ended up anywhere when Canning’s long-range delivery dropped short into the opposition danger zone. Time was almost suspended until reserve Tom Condon emerged from a cluster of bodies in the final act of an epic hurling championship.

Even the most blinkered Galway supporter couldn’t begrudge the Treaty men ending their 45-year long famine on the run of play alone. This was a game unlike none other of a marathon campaign for the title holders. This time there was no early blitz; this time they were the ones playing catch up; this time they lost.

Even that scenario must feel strange to a group of players who were defending a terrific 13-match unbeaten championship run, but fatigue may have caught up with them on Sunday. Most of the Galway players were laboured and they just couldn’t match the overall intensity and energy of Limerick.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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