No nags as Galway just lose out by a nose
Nearly all the talk was of the hurling and the football and the manner in which those games were played, as it should be.
The fixtures were sporting, enthralling and splendid value for money. Poor old Galway suffered the worst fate. That great dual county exited both championships by the narrowest of margins. Now that’s cruel luck! But their respective managers, Liam Sammon and John McIntyre were most magnanimous in defeat. Now they have to go away and lick their wounds and vow to come back next year and try to right the wrongs of 2009. If there is one consolation for Galway it is that they are now free to enjoy themselves at the Galway Races and a win or two on the nags might help restore some flagging spirits.
While the footballers lost by a point for the second week in a row, the hurlers will feel even more disappointed. They seemed to be doing enough to ensure victory until a few minutes from time. Then enter the big lad they call ‘Dan the Man’ and everything changed. In came the high balls, up went the hand of Dan and the game was transformed.
The unerring stick of Eoin Kelly had kept Waterford within striking distance of Galway and when Dan arrived a very cleverly taken goal by another impressive substitute, Shane Walsh, and a point each from Kelly and the irrepressible John Mullane saw the Munster men home by the skin of their teeth.
It’s an old axiom to say that games are won and lost on the line. Without a doubt, the switches and substitutions made by Davy Fitzgerald and his selectors paved the way for this victory and another shot at Kilkenny.
It’s great that a county like Waterford, who 50 years ago won their last All-Ireland, are in the final four again this season. This semi-final will be much more low key than last year’s decider. Kilkenny will be still raging hot favourites but if Ken McGrath is back, Waterford might just upset the odds. Certainly they have nothing to lose. And with their U21 side playing Clare in the Munster U21 hurling final tomorrow and their minors crowned provincial champions, it is obvious that the game is in a position of strength in the sunny south-east.
LIMERICK too were cock-a-hoop after qualifying for the All-Ireland semi-final after a deserved win over an improving Dublin.
Limerick, as they did against Laois, came late to snatch a morale-boosting win. So three of the last four left in the championship are Munster teams. That will help stroke the argument of the supremacy of Munster hurling. But can any of the three Munster teams beat Kilkenny. Well, you’d never know. The two semi-finals are on successive weekends. Wouldn’t it be better to play both on the one day in Croke Park? That would guarantee a full house and a superb atmosphere. Also if both semi-finals were played on the same day the All-Ireland final could be brought forward a week, which would give an extra week to the clubs. It is something the GAA should seriously consider.
In football we have some very promising quarter-finals headed up by the clash of all clashes – Kerry v Dublin. This is going to be great – great football and great fun.
No game between both counties in recent years was as open and as unpredictable as this one. Once this draw was made, there was no more talk in Kerry about dissent or indiscipline. All minds are now firmly focused on our city cousins.
In a year of many great games, this could well be the daddy of them all.
