WESTERNERS NEED TO CLOSE GAMES OUT — THREE TIMES THEY LET IT SLIP AWAY...
2010 ALL-IRELAND QUARTER-FINAL Tipperary 3-17 Galway 3-16
THEY had been locked together all afternoon but when Aonghus Callanan and Kevin Hynes stung for backto-back points coming down the home straight, Galway looked to be clear. But then the Tipperary bench kicked in, points from John O’Brien and Gearoid Ryan tied the match, and one final scorching run from Pa Bourke set up Lar Corbett with the winning chance which he drained. Tipperary would go on to become champion and several of that Galway team — the likes of Damien Joyce, Shane Kavanagh, Ger Farragherand John Lee all culled when Anthony Cunningham took charge 12 months later — would never see Croke Park again.
2014 FIRST ROUND QUALIFIER Tipperary 3-25 Galway 4-13
EAMON O’Shea was staring at a fourth straight Championship defeat in a row as Tipperary manager with 20 minutes remaining in this first round qualifier. Johnny Glynn struck back-to-back goals to send Galway six clear but from there the visitors simply imploded as Seamus Callanan went to town on them and Tipp romped home by nine points.
2016 ALL-IRELAND SEMI-FINAL Tipperary 2-19 Galway 2-18
THE Premier County looked like they would be the latest to be struck down by the Munster champions curse when they trailed by two points with nine minutes left. Galway were at least another two points better than that, but in the space of three minutes, ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer and John McGrath found the net to leave Galway with that familiar, sinking final-quarter feeling.