Galway survive Limerick test

THE ‘hair-dryer’ dressing- room treatment of one of his under-achieving teams by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is legendary in sport at this stage, but if there is anyone in the GAA who would give the great man a run for his money, it’s Galway’s fiery hurling manager John McIntyre.

Consider then what the Galway dressing-room was like at half-time of yesterday’s NHL opener against Limerick.

Because of the well-documented problems between the panel of 2009 – 25 of whom have either been dropped or have walked away – and manager Justin McCarthy, Limerick had practically a new team taking the field in the superb Kilmallock venue and were expected to be mere fodder for a high-flying Galway side that had recently won its first competition in Leinster, the Walsh Cup.