TOMORROW TOMÁS Ó SÉ

Where Kerry and Eamonn Fitzmaurice go from here

self-assurance of youth. This crazy swashbuckling intensity defines them as a team, the Cusack Park setback showed what happens when it’s missing.

When you think about the amount of talent Limerick has produced it’s bizarre that 1973 marked not just their last win over Kilkenny but also their last All-Ireland. No team has been so adept at shooting themselves in the foot with the winning post in view. That’s why this victory appears particularly significant.

The crop of kids who won the 2015 and 2017 All-Ireland U-21 titles seem determined not to become the next generation of Limerick stars with a great future behind them.

This time last year Galway lost to Kerry in a game where they appeared timid and overawed from the get go. Yesterday the boot was on the other foot. It was the Kingdom who seemed saddled with an inferiority complex, reverting to a sweeper system, eschewing the sparkling football of their Munster campaign and trying to take Galway on physically.

Bad move. It’s clear by now that Kevin Walsh’s team have no intention of emulating attractive attackminded Galway sides of the past. This is a resolutely unlovable team but a mightily tough and efficient one.

It was suggested they might struggle to reproduce their league form when the championship saw an increase in pace and intensity. But a year when most championship games seem like league games has suited Galway down to the ground. They may be short on style but they’re brimming with substance.

Limerick have earned another crack at Cork while Galway’s ginger guerillas will brave Newbridge and the miraculous powers it confers on the home team.

Both teams will travel on with a great deal of confidence.

The monkey is off their backs, and their forwards.