Nicki Quaid, Donal O’ Grady and Seamus Flanagan. – Photo Den O’Brien. – All Ireland Senior Hurling Semi Final Limerick v Galway
LIMERICK……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2-24
GALWAY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1-18
Back with a bang! There have been highs and not-quite-as-highs in six seasons of Limerick Hurling Dreamland. Four national titles collected so far through a mixture of brilliance, grit and an unshakeable faith in what they can achieve. Sometimes, however, supporters in moments of apprehension cast their minds back to rosy memories of the team explosively bursting on the scene with passages of carefree genius and wish they might just see one more display of the magic that transformed their all-conquering success into the annals of legend.
Well, they got it on Saturday in Croke Park. Not a full seventy minutes, though. They had to settle for just forty as they had to overcome their earlier awkwardness, went back to what they always do best and blasted Galway’s hopes of making the All-Ireland final in probably the most flawless display of their time at the top.
And being the Limerick that they are, they didn’t go about it the easy way. Twenty-two minutes into the game, they were trailing by six, lucky even to be there after a smash-and-grab goal against the run of play delayed the compilation of their opponents’ lead and it could have been even greater minutes later had Nickie Quaid and Mike Casey not put body and soul on the line to prevent a second Galway goal. Struggling in the centre as injury-enforced changes disrupted the fluency of their middle-third line-up, they were being butchered by the Tribesmen’s use of space and the breeze to get in behind the defence and relentlessly build up their lead.
For those of us looking on, it was a case of trying to be wise after the event. Limerick’s recovery to pull back to within a point by the break wasn’t a moment of sea change. A free, a point sent over after collecting the puckout, the momentum silently built up and it was only when a few more chances found the target in the final passages before the short whistle that the green-shirts in the crowd of 59,739 turned from groans of doubt into raucous shouts of renewed hope.
And when they charged out of the dressing-room for the second half, they were a team transformed. Level within seconds, back in the lead for the first time since the opening minutes soon after, they had grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and they were in no mood to let go. Suddenly it all clicked together, the missing pieces found their places in the jigsaw, Cian Lynch recovered that mastery of the improbable that had been missing for almost two seasons, the big men in the middle bedazzled their shellshocked opponents by swarming around every contested ball, Aaron Gillane and Séamus Flanagan were sprinting out, snatching high and turning on sixpences like tap dancers and the every line of the formation was dragged into to perform the last rites on the game as a contest.
Galway could only look on. From looking like carrying off the shock of the season, they were now being torn apart by an eruption of fluency and intensity, by a force of nature that they had unintentionally ignited. For the half and a bit that followed their failure to put away the second goal, Limerick turned from a stubborn refusal to be beaten in an outpouring of joyful abandon that was a privilege to watch.
What did it? One sign of what was to come was when the half-back and half-forward lines pressed in on one each other, creating the chaos in the middle third in which Limerick’s ever-changing concentration of resources and their mastery of the short-passing movements thrive at their best. Like a Hollywood movie of the champion refusing to lie down, it all came together on the day and there was nothing their opponents could do to put the genie they had unleashed back in its bottle.
Winning tidier ball around the middle from the throw-in, Galway found the spaces to run into for taking the shot or drawing the foul and went ahead off Evan Niland’s opening free which was met in kind by Aaron Gillane before Brian Concannon restored the Tribesman’s lead. However, their early dominance disappeared in a flash when Gillane jumped highest to fetch a long Tom Morrissey delivery and wallop to the net on the turn.
But Limerick’s lead was fleeting. Two Niland frees had the sides level and, with the bit between their teeth, the Westerners were leading after Conor Whelan’s strike on the turn which was followed by another Niland free. A Gillane free and Peter Casey saw the teams back on level terms only for Kevin Cooney to find Cathal Mannion running wide down the left to collect his pass and then scythe in on the goals to give Nickie Quaid no chance.
Gearóid Hegarty replied but the tide was still flowing against them as Concannon and Niland’s free moved the gap out to four and, afterr Morrissey and Kyle Hayes were met in turn by Whelan and Niland’s free, it moved out to six when Mannion and another Niland free found the target. After staunching the flow, Limerick shot back through Diarmaid Byrnes’s free and Darragh O’Donovan but then had Quaid to thank for flinging himself across Con-cannon’s goalbound shot and Mike Casey’s outstretched hurley behind him getting the block in.
Despite the thwarted full-forward sending the ball back over the crossbar, the escape inspired the champions to step on the gas as quickfire points from Cian Lynch, Gillane, Séamus Flanagan and a Byrnes free pulled their deficit back to 1-13 to 1-12 at the break.
With the wind behind them and their intensity raised over the half-time cup of tea, Flanagan had them level right from the restart and, even though Whelan collected the resulting puckout to split the posts, a long free from Byrnes, a closer one from Gillane and Morrissey’s strike from the sideline had them ahead before Kevin Cooney halved the Tribesmen’s deficit to one.
And then, the dam burst. Reidy scampered into the square with the sliotar, handpassed to Gillane over the advancing Éanna Murphy and, despite batting his first effort off the crossbar, he whipped the rebound to the net. Although Niland replied with a free, it barely disturbed the torrent as Hegarty, Hayes, Peter Casey and Reidy tacked on the points to move Limerick’s lead to seven with thirteen regulation minutes to go before the subs were given their camera time on Croke Park.
The changes provided little inspiration for Galway. Limerick were still walking on clouds, their swarm tackling and quicksilver handpassing ripping apart all attempts at a response as Niland and Gillane traded frees. Another Gillane free was answered, Tom Monahan and Graeme Mulcahy and Cathal O’Neill left evidence of their semi-final intro-ductions by plucking off the final scores.
Scorers: Limerick : Aaron Gillane 2-5 (0-3 frees); Diarmaid Byrnes 0-3 (3 frees), Kyle Hayes 0-3 each; Peter Casey, Gearóid Hegarty, Tom Morrissey, Séamus Flanagan 0-2 each; Darragh O’Donovan, Cian Lynch, Dave Reidy, Graeme Mulcahy, Cathal O’Neill 0-1 each;
Galway: Evan Niland 0-9 (9 frees); Cathal Mannion 1-1; Brian Concannon, Conor Whelan 0-3 each; Kevin Cooney, Tom Monaghan 0-1 each.
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Mike Casey, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Gearóid Hegarty; Darragh O’Donovan, William O’Donoghue; Dave Reidy, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Aaron Gillane, Séamus Flanagan, Peter Casey.
Subs: Cathal O’Neill for Tom Morrissey (55), Graeme Mulcahy for Peter Casey (66), Conor Boylan for Gearóid Hegarty (68), Adam English for Darragh O’Donovan (72), Oisín O’Reilly For Séamus Flanagan (72).
Galway: Éanna Murphy; Jack Grealish, Dáithí Burke, Darren Morrissey; Pádraic Mannion, Gearóid McInerney, Joseph Cooney; Seán Linnane, Cathal Mannion; Ronan Glennon, Cianán Fahy, Kevin Cooney; Conor Whelan, Brian Concannon, Evan Niland.
Subs: Tom Monaghan for Ronan Glennon (50), Conor Cooney for Seán Linnane (53), Liam Collins for Brian Concannon (62), Fintan Burke for Cianán Fahy (68).
Referee: James Owens, Wexford.