Galway give their all but it’s not enough to carry day

Limerick 0-27

Galway 0-24

John McIntyre at Croke Park

THE battle of hurling’s big beasts served up the anticipated physical war of attrition, but Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final still fell far short of being classified as one of the sport’s epic contests of the modern era.

It was undoubtedly tense, edgy and robust with the outcome remarkably in doubt deep into injury time, but this eagerly awaited contest was riddled with poor handling, unforced errors and wayward shooting at times. The game only flowed in spots and the absence of a goal was another black mark.

Galway hurling teams have often returned from Croke Park loaded with regrets, but this wasn’t one of those occasions. Their commitment and resolution were beyond reproach, while the men in maroon could hardly have wished for a better start against the title favourites.

But having stormed into a 0-7 to 0-2 lead with corner forward Brian Concannon quickly catching fire, Galway were then outscored by 18 points to eight between the 15th and 50th minutes. By that juncture, Limerick were bossing the exchanges and had one foot in the All-Ireland final.

The champions of 2017, however, were a little too goal-hungry for their own good in the second-half, leaving Galway hanging on and they were forced to win the match for a ‘second time’ in a protracted period of injury time.

That fact that Limerick registered three of the final four points – including a hat-trick from the impressive Tom Morrissey – tells its own story. They were able to lift the tempo when needed but, overall, this was a somewhat underwhelming performance from the Shannonsiders.

Limerick’s wides tally of 16 compared to Galway’s 11 also reduces debate about the validity of the outcome. They had a few horrible misses on an evening their much-acclaimed half-forward line of Morrissey, Cian Lynch and Gearóid Hegarty still managed 11 points from play between them. In total, Galway only had ten.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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