Limerick’s new wave swamp sloppy Tribe

Treaty make most of defensive errors to end 45 years of hurt

LIMERICK 3-16

GALWAY 2-18

ALL-IRELAND SHC FINAL

THE 45-year wait is over and Limerick can breathe again. Old ghosts, who spooked them mercilessly for more than four decades, have been banished in a manner that won’t leave them minded to consider a return.

The Limerick landscape is green and fertile again, thanks to a new generation of talented young adventurers and their unrelenting desire to be different. There was something about this panel since they started out in the Munster League last January that suggested their ambition had no limits. And so it proved.

With the exception of a collapse against Clare in the last round of the Munster round-robin, they grew into a remarkable championship, gathering momentum as they went before powering to unstoppable levels on the biggest day of all.

Indeed, they appeared to have turned the final act in a memorable season into an anti-climax when taking an eight-point lead into stoppage time.

Referee James Owens ordered eight extra minutes and then added another for further stoppages but given Galway’s sluggishness for almost the entire game, their prospects of launching a recovery looked remote.

Yet, by the time Owens sounded the final whistle, the margin had been cut to a point after Galway out-scored their increasingly jittery opponents by 2-2 to 0-1.

If ever a final scoreline presents a false representation of a game this is it. Limerick were the better team by a considerable distance, yet somehow contrived to find themselves looking down the barrel of Joe Canning’s gun in the final seconds.

His aim from a free just outside his own ‘45’ was true but his shot for what would have been the levelling point didn’t quite carry the required distance, Limerick dealt with the dropping ball and the title was theirs for the eighth time.

If they had been taken to a replay – or indeed if Galway had snatched a late winning goal – it would have been more devastating for Limerick than the nightmare of 1994 when they lost the final to Offaly after taking a five-point lead into the last five minutes.

Apart from in stoppage time, when goals by Conor Whelan and Canning (free) and a point from Niall Burke cut the margin to a point with three minutes remaining, Galway failed to perform anywhere close to what was expected of a side challenging for two titles in a row.

In fact, there were periods when they were so flat that they looked a side that had lost their energy and ambition somewhere along the way since nudging past Clare in the semi-final replay.

All three Limerick goals resulted from serious defensive errors while, at the other end, the Galway attack failed to locate the unlocking code until the closing minutes.

By then Limerick had lost Mike Casey and Richie English from their full-back line, departures that left gaps which had been sealed solid earlier on.

Casey did an excellent marking job on Johnny Glynn before being forced off injured in the 50th minute, by which stage Limerick had not only set the agenda but were also blocking Galway from reading it.

Canning, who scored 1-10 (0-3 from play), and Joseph Cooney were the only Galway forwards to test the Limerick defence, a situation that nobody would have envisaged.

Unbeaten in their previous 13 championship games, Galway’s starting strike-force – and subs – arrived with massive reputations, but that didn’t concern Limerick, who seized the initiative right from the start, popping over the first three points in the opening five minutes.

The manner in which they were going about their business was ominous for Galway, who came out second best in most of the man-on-man duels.

Micheál Donoghue’s men gradually clawed their way back and led by a point after 15 minutes but what happened over the next 40 minutes was reminiscent of their fade-outs against Kilkenny in the Leinster final and against Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final draw and replay.

The big difference this time was that unlike the previous three games, they didn’t have large deposits in the scoring bank to sustain them through the down periods.

Limerick out-scored them by 2-10 to 0-6 between the 16th and 56th minutes, the goals coming from Graeme Mulcahy (16th) and Tom Morrissey (54th).

Galway should have prevented both but were beaten by Mulcahy’s sheer persistence in front of goal for the first and gifted Limerick the second when Gearóid McInerney’s handpass was blocked.

The giveaway continued when Adrian Tuohey was caught out as he tried to begin a move from deep in his own defence, allowing Morrissey to pounce.

Limerick would have had another goal in the 59th minute except for James Skehill’s bravery as he clattered (legally) into Seamus Flanagan, just as the full-forward was about to shoot.

It prevented a goal, but it also ended Skehill’s day as he took a very heavy knock.

Galway’s responded to the let-off by shooting four unanswered points, but all their hard work seemed in vain when sub Shane Dowling whipped in Limerick’s third goal in the 68th minute.

There seemed no way back for Galway, but all changed in the first minute of injury time when Whelan squeezed in their first goal.

It set the scene for a dramatic finale, which tested Limerick nerves to the limit and left Galway wondering why it had taken them so long to build sustained pressure.

For whatever reason, they were exceptionally sloppy earlier on, not just with their shooting but also in their marking and positional play. Mind you, Limerick missed a lot of scoring chances too.

BREAKING POINT

Man of the match Kyle Hayes, Flanagan, Mulcahy and Tom Morrissey regularly stretched the Galway defence to breaking point while Cian Lynch played his usual intelligent game around midfield.

The defence was well on top until late on with Casey and Declan Hannon providing excellent security down the middle.

Canning did his best to inspire Galway, especially in the second half, but apart from David Burke, Joseph Cooney and Pádraic Mannion the overall efficiency rate was on well down on what would have been expected.

Obviously, credit for much of that goes to Limerick but they must have been surprised at how easy it was to disrupt such experienced opposition. And once they sensed that something special was on, they unleashed huge energy to make it happen.

They can now claim to have won one of the best All-Ireland campaigns, during which they defeated hurling’s ‘Big 3’, Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary and crowned it off by making Galway’s double chasers look ordinary.

And while the overall standard yesterday wasn’t as high as in some of this summer’s remarkable clashes, it’s a matter of no consequence to Limerick as they head for the celebration trail.

SCORERS – Limerick: G Mulcahy 1-2; T Morrissey 1-1; S Dowling 1-0; K Hayes 0-4; A Gillane 0-3 (2f); D Hannon 0-2; D Byrnes, S Flanagan, C Lynch and D O’Donovan 0-1 each. Galway: J Canning 1-10 (1-5f, 2 ‘65’s); J Cooney and David Burke 0-3 each; C Whelan 1-0; P Mannion, N Burke 0-1 each.

LIMERICK – N Quaid; S Finn, M Casey, R English; D Byrnes, D Hannon, D Morrissey; D O’Donovan, C Lynch; G Hegarty, K Hayes, T Morrissey; A Gillane, S Flanagan, G Mulcahy. Subs: R McCarthy for M Casey (50), S Dowling for Hegarty (56), P Casey for Flanagan (63), W O’Donoghue for O’Donovan (67), T Condon for English (72).

GALWAY – J Skehill; A Tuohey, Daithi Burke, J Hanbury; P Mannion, G McInerney, A Harte; J Coen, David Burke; J Cooney, J Canning, C Mannion; C Whelan, J Glynn, C Cooney. Subs: N Burke for C Mannion (46), J Flynn for C Cooney (48), P Killeen for Hanbury (57), S Loftus for Coen (60), F Flannery for Skehill (61) REF – J Owens (Wexford).