COLLINS: IT’S STALL TO PLAY FOR

FORMER All-star David Collins says Galway can’t hit the ‘stop’ button again after 20 minutes if they want to win another All-ireland.

The Tribe’s ex-captain has been left alarmed by the team’s peaks and troughs in recent games. Their pattern has been to start strong and rack up a big lead before sitting back and allowing the opposition back into it.

They led Clare by nine points early on at Croke Park last month only to be pegged back to a draw and it took a replay to get the job done.

Collins said: “Galway have an abundance of skill but they just seem to switch off for 15 minutes, before the end of the first-half or at the start of the second-half. And that to me is a factor that Micheal Donoghue really has to address and eliminate.

“If he can keep them going for 15 minutes longer, reset at half-time and drive it on in the second-half then I don’t see them being beaten.

“But the reality is that Limerick are going to be looking at those performances thinking, ‘If we can hold Galway for the first 10 or 15 minutes, we are in with a serious shout’. Because if Galway are not ahead by nine or 10 points and you don’t give them that head start, then obviously it’s game on.”