Liam Sheedy: No detail too small in the hunt for hurling’s big prize

Both men patrolling the sideline on Sunday are great people, great hurling men who have given everything while sacrificing so much to reach this final hurdle

EYE FOR DETAIL: Galway manager Micheál Donoghue, much like his opposition manager, is a stickler for detail. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Whatever else you can say about this All-Ireland final, I’m certain the two men on the line will have scoured for every last inch to lift the big prize. John and Micheál are attention to detail bainisteoirí, that’s for sure. They’ll go after the smallest things to tip the scales their way on Sunday.

I still remember walking in under the stand in Cork for our covid match with Kiely’s men in the 2020 Munster Championship. A weird day with no supporters, near silence as we all traipsed in keeping our social distance. We couldn’t go into the dressing rooms so I just glanced over at Limerick setting up and they had all these chairs put out, each one labelled with a player’s name on the back, and organised in such a formation that everyone who needed to be close was sitting nearby, without breaking any two-metre rule or whatever it was.

We all try to box off everything we can, but I just thought ‘wow’, why didn’t I think of that? We just spread out and sat down wherever was going. I won’t say that was the losing of it that day, but can you imagine how many other one-percenters Kiely and co go after, especially with Caroline Currid on the case. He was talking this week about the 63 meetings he had after last year’s disappointments and the notebooks he filled. Add up all the one-percenters in there and we can be fairly certain Limerick will deliver 110% Sunday.

I’ve never been on the line with Micheál — our spells didn’t cross — but I know he’s the same type of character. He was in with Tipp during Eamon’s time and everyone had massive regard for him. When Micheál was managing Clarinbridge in 2011, he rang me. They had O'Loughlin Gaels coming up in the club final, and we had beaten Kilkenny in a final in Croke Park the year before. That was his thinking. So I met them the morning of the match in the team hotel for a chat. Just no stone unturned.

You can see all of that in the total buy-in to their style from every player. The man deserves incredible kudos for the journey he has taken this Galway group on. After limping out to Tipp in 2025, you wondered if he had the raw materials. Losing the first two league games this year wouldn’t have you excited, but the trajectory from there is impressive. 

The first real signpost that something serious was building came in the second half of their league game at the Gaelic Grounds. Trailing 1-15 to 0-4, they looked to be at nothing, but Micheál made three changes and they roared into the match, posting 0-31, which is some shooting against the green machine. It wasn’t enough on the day, but it felt like a huge step forward.

They dismantled Kilkenny in league and championship which were significant markers after major losses to them in recent years. The next box to be ticked was silverware and the way their structure held up to rout Dublin must have delivered a massive shot of confidence to the group.

John Kiely with Galway manager Michael Donoghue at the end of the 2018 All-Ireland final. Pic: Tommy Dickson/Inpho

They still went in under the radar against Cork in a match that was sort of set up for an ambush. Micheál was like a man possessed on the line and looks completely in sync with both his starters and finishers which is testament to his leadership over the last 18 months.

His new team has a wonderful mix of youth and experience throughout the field, with a workrate and energy in and out of possession that makes them extremely difficult to stop when in flow.

The thing is they are coming up now against the great flow disrupters. Teams get their purple patches against Limerick but hardly ever get a full run on them. Especially with Kinnerk so good at adjusting on the hoof.

John strikes me as a guy who loves routine and will have relished the four-week build-up to the semi-final and these two weeks to work on getting one more massive performance from his incredible bunch of players and backroom, who have delivered time and time again in tight margins.

Watching them come from six down so late in the semi-final, you couldn't but admire their fortitude in finding a way again when the heat was dialled up. John will know they didn’t find the level of performance he’d want, but that finish brought them massive momentum. Similar to us in the ‘19 semi, that final push gave us a running start into the final.

I can imagine their internal game last weekend was mega competitive. Dan Morrissey and Mike Casey going head-to-head to see who starts. Out in the middle, Cian looking to oust one of Darragh or Adam or potentially he goes in at 11. That could push Aidan O’Connor inside which might mean the Bull O’Brien or Aaron Gillane being asked to sit down initially. This level of competition should have everyone on their toes.

Micheál must sometimes wonder how his journey would have looked if those final pulsating minutes in 2018 had gone differently. John might think about it too, the odd time. Limerick never looked back but the men in maroon are only rekindling their connection with Croker.

Going back to a final after eight years is a big deal. These are pressurised weeks. When I was heading back in 2019 after that gap to 2010, I found myself out of sorts and tense and not enjoying the build-up. I rang Gary Keegan and told him I wasn’t in the flow or in the zone. Gary asked me to make a list and write down everything I was grateful for. I read it back to him the next day and he said to me that no matter what happens on Sunday you have that to wake up to on Monday morning. It was like flicking a switch and I rocked into the rest of the week.

Gary twigged too that my mother Bid was my inspiration. She has always been looking down on me since her passing in 2015 and her name was on my wrist in Croke Park that day. I remember vividly that brilliant picture of Micheál with his father Miko at the Galway homecoming in 2017, pride spilling out of it. Family is so important on days like Sunday as they will be there in the good times and the bad, to treasure the moment with you or pick you up when it doesn’t go your way.

I hope both teams play to their potential and we are treated to another absorbing meeting of these two. The tried and trusted against the up and coming, in reverse order from 2018. We know John’s record in finals is exceptional. Playing in a first senior final will be daunting for some of Galway’s younger lads, but I’m sure Micheál will have his old hands keeping a close eye on them this week. I heard Cyril Farrell at Dalo’s show the other night saying he had to convince Galway they were entitled to win and Micheál is a very persuasive man too.

We’ll keep our eyes peeled for the one-percenters, though you usually only hear about them on the winning side. Tipp last year couldn’t have been more different to 2020. Liam Cahill got his players to disembark the bus outside Croke Park and they got a rapturous response from the Tipp supporters as they walked in under the stand. Watching on, you could feel the emotion of it, and I thought there was one small marginal gain banked.

Whoever adds up most of those on Sunday and gets their boys over the line, we should acknowledge that both men patrolling the sideline are great people, great hurling men who have given everything they have while sacrificing so much to reach this final hurdle.

All us hurling folk can hope for is that we get a final for the ages.