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The All-Ireland hurling final was disappointing as a neutral, but the occasion still fills the capital with an incredible buzz. Hurling icons and enthusiasts in every cafe and bar.
At one stage after the game Richie Hogan was arguing the fact that we’ve only had one breakthrough county in hurling who have claimed the ultimate prize in Offaly - when the first of their four titles arrived in 1981 - while other pundits were giving their opinions on how we recreate it with other counties.
Ironically, the World Cup final made the hurling look more than half decent. I didn’t foresee the margin of victory that was to come for Limerick.
Micheál Donoghue has openly spoken of the transformation in style and personnel that he decided on during the off season.
It was evident from the first game of the league and he has stuck to his guns and that bravery brought him and his group of players to the showpiece for the year.
Basically, I had mentioned how they’d torn up the script. Their back six was unrecognisable from what it was in 2025, barring Daithí Burke and Pádraic Mannion. More telling still were his substitutions. His substitutions during games, more often than not were midfielders and defenders.
Why? Because they’re the ones doing the hard running, the transitions, the ball carrying. And then you had Cathal Mannion essentially playing as a seventh defender.
Read more:
How Limerick set up a middle-third kill zone and Galway marched right into it
It came a cropper at the final hurdle, and they just couldn’t break any Limerick tackle at the weekend. The game plan went out the window and there was no Plan B.
Ronan Glennon got turned over three times in the first half paving the way for Limerick scores on all occasions - what a contrast from the semi-final when he was inflicting the scores on Cork.
Lessons had been learned. Limerick brought absolute war to the middle third, and Galway didn’t. They had no platform.
Which is why I think they could have utilised Jason Rabbitte more.
When you’re on TV duty, you move to the front row of the Hogan Stand for the match itself, maybe not the best view at pitch level with the managers in front of you, but you have little monitors.
Two or three times, Pádraic Mannion was right in front of us. He looked up and had a clear route to Rabbitte, who was one on one. Think back to the absolute chaos he was causing in that opening 20 minutes. It wouldn’t have been a nice ball into space but it would have been better than the alternative of trying to run it out against the green wall.
Mike Casey fouled him three times and got booked. Seán Finn fouled him twice, and arguably a third time that the referee didn’t give. Dan Morrissey might have been your next option off the bench, but you don’t want to making that number of changes to your defensive unit?
It’s the kind of disruption Galway needed to bring, but they fell into the Limerick trap, trying to play through the lines rather than over them.
The level of Limerick physicality was off the charts. Cian Lynch was phenomenal. I think in the first half, he had three turnovers and four assists. Iron fist, velvet glove. He really has it all.
John Kiely spoke of leadership after the game, and how success levels are attributed to work rate. That alone sums up why Cian Lynch is captain of this team.
He orchestrates the attack, drawing opposition players in before slipping to the free man but his ability to dispossess opponents and break up their play. There is no doubt his absence for the majority of the Clare match is the reason Clare dominated midfield for the first hour, while they also got their match ups right in a manner Galway didn’t.
Clare did not allow Gearóid Hegarty to dictate. Conor Cleary hounded him, John Conlon shut down the Limerick midfield, Clare’s fullback line were dominant for the first hour.
In a way, Galway went for the brave approach in backing themselves and their own game plan rather than worrying about Limerick’s strengths, but Kiely’s men proved their class and then some.
That’s six All-Irelands in nine years now.
Kilkenny won eight in 10 years from 2006 onwards.
There is a lot of talk of Limerick being the greatest team ever. I think if they were to win the All-Ireland next year, I’d put them on a par with Brian Cody’s Kilkenny, even if statistically they are one short.
One thing they have in common is that hunger, that drive, that ferocity. If you don’t match it, you don’t stand a chance.
Themselves and that great Kilkenny team are two squads who are ridiculously used to winning All-Irelands. Will O’Donoghue and a few others admitted they had watched the final back before Sunday night was done.
Any other county wouldn’t be watching it back for a week with the celebrations.
They just know that is their level and anything else is below the bar they set.
The bit was between the teeth all year, and when you reflect on it, they lost to Waterford in the league, arguably the only occasion all season long where they didn’t bring the intensity required or the levels they expect of themselves.
People said they didn’t fire in the semi-final against Clare. I disagree. Clare gave everything, and Limerick’s bench saw them home. That was the hallmark of a champion team.
Galway, meanwhile, will be devastated, but I don’t see this result defining them. Not in a negative sense.
In one season they’ve stripped almost bare and are now cemented in the top four, along with Limerick, Clare and Cork. It’s not that long ago they won four minor All-Irelands in a row from 2017 to 2020. I think they’re in a good spot.
A word too on the new Antrim manager Mickey McShane, just to wish him the very best of luck for 2027 and beyond.
I actually marked him in my very first championship start for Cushendall in Ballycastle’s old pitch. Mickey is small in stature, and as I walked up I thought: ‘Great, I’m marking another young lad’.
I saw under the helmet then and realised he was closer to the age I am now!
That was 2005, Mickey has lots of managerial expertise under his belt now and I wish him every success.
It feels funny to be saying 2027, but that’s the reality, six months now without an intercounty match. I stand by the fact that the Ryder Cup is a massive opportunity next year to promote hurling, with JP McManus there in Adare.
A Munster v Leinster match in the Gaelic Grounds would be just class. I’d go to it. Any amount of hurling folk would, and beyond.
With John Kiely leading operations for JP and for the upcoming Ryder Cup in September 2027 now is surely the opportune moment.
The GAA and GPA could at the very least make a proposal to try and make the most of a once in a lifetime opportunity? Given the space in the GAA calendar, it would be foolish to let the chance slide.
