Limerick and Galway really upheld the traditions of the All-Ireland semi-finals weekend with a memorable game.
On paper the less competitive-looking of the two matches, it was redeemed by Galway coming with all guns blazing and giving their best performance of the year and, in fact, their best for a number of seasons.
They showed no fear of Limerick from the moment Tom Monaghan ended the very first phase of ruck after ruck with a point within 30 seconds right up until the end when they were still pushing the champions all the way.
Unfortunately for them, the conversion rate was their Achilles heel. Nineteen wides played a big part in undoing them. Conor Cooney’s free that dropped into Nickie Quaid from about 25 metres stood out but there was plenty of others all the way up to Evan Niland’s wide in injury time.
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They recovered from a ropy start by reverting to an orthodox formation, which put a halt to their conceding puck-outs, which had allowed the Limerick defence to put ball on a plate for Aaron Gillane and Séamus Flanagan in the early stages.
Barry Nash, Mike Casey and Seán Finn, excellent again yesterday, aren’t just good defenders but they’re also excellent distributors and unopposed in possession, they were able to pick out the forwards.
As soon as Cathal Mannion went back up front, the game’s dynamic changed. I thought Limerick were in real danger because Galway were completely on top but the inability to put away enough of their chances meant they never got a run of scores.
The champions survived. One reason was that Diarmaid Byrnes replicated his Munster form by scoring a succession of clutch frees and Kyle Hayes became more and more influential – ending the game with a great catch in front of his own goal – even though he was being marked by Joseph Cooney, who gave as good a performance as I’ve seen from him in a Galway jersey.
Another reason was the impact of their bench. David Reidy scored 0-3 but there was also the encouragement of seeing Peter Casey and current Hurler of the Year, Cian Lynch returning after serious injury.
Limerick found enough to get over the line. John Kiely showed decisiveness in replacing five of his front eight but he has the resources to do that. They ended up with nearly as many wides as Galway, even if the latter’s misses were worse.
Galway didn’t let Henry Shefflin down and they have plenty to work on after this. I thought they got a little over-anxious with the referee, which can be a distraction.
Ultimately, they had Limerick on the ropes but couldn’t land the knockout blow.
On the issue of the provincial crossover, Leinster came out of the weekend looking a lot better than at the start. Both provincial finalists gave their best performances of the season and the freshest team of the two days was undoubtedly Kilkenny.
I didn’t expect the pattern of their semi-final against Clare – let alone the outcome. It was always likely they’d cause them trouble with their tight-marking game, the hooking and blocking that made them stand out for me in Parnell Park when they overwhelmed Dublin.
Reports that their training had gone really well since the Leinster final were also proven to be spot on. Their defence was excellent, cutting out space for the Clare forwards and then getting completely on top of them.
Mikey Butler did a phenomenal job on Tony Kelly and in general Clare were working far too hard for their scores. Shane O’Donnell put them ahead with the second point but it took unbelievable skill to create the opportunity.
Meanwhile their free-taking woes continued while TJ Reid was back to his considerable best and hitting all of his over the bar.
Kilkenny’s backs were exerting massive pressure through Huw Lawlor and Paddy Deegan but they were sharp all over the field. Adrian Mullen’s form was excellent and Cian Kenny in a cameo underlined their superiority, killing a ball on his stick and firing it over the bar.
Their finishing was as good as I’ve seen from them since they were in their pomp.
The loss of John Conlon beforehand was a huge disruption for Clare and they never really got going. It will be hard for Clare to regroup after the huge disappointment of coming unstuck in such spectacular fashion. Cork have found it difficult to recover from this sort of defeat. There was a big drop-off in form from their Munster campaign and the closeness of the Wexford match turns out to have been a canary in the mine rather than a mere hangover.
Kilkenny head for another All-Ireland final in rude health. They obviously used the four weeks since the Leinster final well and now have another two to prepare for Limerick.
I think, on the basis of the semi-finals, we’re going to have an exceptional contest.
