Shane Moloney seizes moment in game for the ages

So shines a good deed in a weary world. Yesterday’s mesmerising All-Ireland hurling semi-final, which remained at issue until the dying seconds, accomplished several things at its conclusion.

The game made a hero of Shane Moloney, who scored his first championship point to send Galway into an All-Ireland final. It made a prophet of his manager, Anthony Cunningham, whose promise to Kilkenny boss Brian Cody that he’d see him in September was duly fulfilled.

It also sent a dose of adrenaline straight into the bloodstream of a championship that has often seemed to lack a heartbeat. Can a single superlative contest elevate an entire tournament and make it memorable?