Galway keep their heads

YOU knew it was death or glory when helmets were flung at the sideline with ten minutes left in yesterday's All-Ireland SHC quarter-final at headquarters.

Galway held their heads in a throbbing finish to beat Tipperary by two points, 2-20 to 2-18.

The second game went according to expectations, but Kilkenny never got so far ahead of Limerick that the Shannonsiders couldn't ride their slipstream, the game ending 0-18 to 0-13.

The first half of Galway-Tipperary was a tale of two full-forwards. The Tribesmen sent Richie Murray out to the veldt around wing-forward, seeking to exploit his height advantage over Diarmuid Fitzgerald. He was involved early on, winning puck-outs and blocking Fitzgerald when Brendan Cummins tried a short puck-out.

However, a forward's job is to score, and as the half wore on, Ken Hogan's decision to leave Micheál Webster near goal looked the wiser move. The Loughmore-Castleiney man broke the ball towards Tommy Dunne midway through the half, and Dunne had obviously kept an eye on Cork's Brian Corcoran last week; he delayed a fraction of a second to pick his spot, then pulled the trigger.

Webster drove on; he fed Eoin Kelly for a point immediately afterwards, and minutes later, the big full-forward was floored when bearing down on goal after a fine catch. Kelly goaled from the penalty, even if it wasn't the usual viperish strike - you could actually see the ball when he hit it. Webster showed his raw side in first-half injury time, picking a ball six yards out when pulling was the obvious option, but Tipp were five points up and looked in control.

Galway needed an early second-half goal to revive their chances and David Forde obliged, wandering in along the 21 before beating Cummins. The score galvanised the westerners, but when Eoin Kelly landed a free from his own half to put six between them - the ball dawdling ever so slightly on his bas as he lifted - Tipp looked safe enough. Damien Hayes' goal two minutes later changed all that and was Galway's game in microcosm: he might have pulled on a loose ball but instead he picked, making the job harder than it had to be, though he got there in the end. Galway kicked on with three points, two from a man rapidly learning the job spec of a wing-forward: Richie Murray.

Laborious in the first half, Murray was now landing inspirational scores like a man born in a number ten jersey, and with eight minutes left, Farragher did a fair Eoin Kelly impersonation to point from his own half, giving Galway the lead.

The game had now left tactics and strategy behind, and both sides were going bald-headed - literally, when the protective headgear was discarded. Tipperary tried to regain the momentum and they went down fighting: John Carroll had a boot rucked off, Redser O'Grady chatted to the ref, and Diarmuid Fitzgerald surged upfield to point, but the crisp supply to Webster had dried up. Galway had the winning post in sight; Murray put them ahead and Ger Farragher raised another white flag from his own half. When Tipp's last-gasp free landed short, Galway kept their heads and Forde smuggled the ball clear, ending the half as he'd begun it: inspiring his teammates.

Kilkenny's passage to the semis went as per the agreed script early on. Limerick rode their adrenalin until about 20 minutes in, when quality asserted itself; with two points in it, Henry Shefflin magicked the ball past two defenders before pointing, and the game seemed to sigh into order, as Kilkenny imposed their will on proceedings. They never cut loose - Brian Geary, Stephen Lucey and Peter Lawlor weren't in the mood to concede goals - but Limerick conceded frees, and Shefflin kept the scoreboard operators honest: the Cats were eight points to the good at half-time.

We almost had the requisite explosive start to the second half, but referee Ger Harrington whistled Donie Ryan's goal back for over-carrying. Ryan has kept spectators moving their lips all year as they count his steps, and yesterday he finally ran out of luck with the traffic corps. That might have been the expected flare of light before the final darkness, but pesky Limerick just wouldn't accept their chosen role, ad-libbing points from TJ Ryan, Paul O'Grady and Peter Lawlor. Twelve minutes into the second half there was a point in it. Things got so serious, Kilkenny had to move Henry Shefflin to midfield.

Which is when DJ Carey decided to intervene. He scored one point, and won a free for another. He buried a penalty Shefflin won, and when he had to retake it, he put the ball over the bar. Kilkenny jumped to a four-point lead, and then Limerick sagged. Though a helmet-less TJ Ryan tried to drive them on, three wides in a row from the 64th minute condemned the Shannonsiders to a moral victory. Given their recent travails and some of the gloomier predictions about yesterday, that at least gives them a platform for next season.

Brian Cody won't be happy that some of his heralded newcomers didn't perform, and the bench wasn't quite the source of comfort it might have been. Still, Tommy Walsh was energetic. Henry Shefflin has his eye in. John Tennyson was solid at full-back. As a get-out-of-jail card they don't get much better than DJ Carey, who kept making the right call yesterday when it was needed.

Even when it goes badly for Kilkenny they keep their heads. You can tell because they never shed those helmets.