Galway ride out the late Tipperary storm to set up another semi-final clash with Limerick

All-Ireland SHC Quarter-final: Galway 1-20 Tipperary 1-18

It was almost as if the fixture had a mind of its own. This was the 16th championship encounter between Galway and Tipperary in what might loosely be termed the modern age – from the 1987 All-Ireland semi-final. On Saturday at the TUS Gaelic Grounds, for the 12th time in that history there was no more than a score between the teams.

For much of the evening, this was about as much a one-score game as the Battle of Singapore.

Tipperary’s much vaunted full-forward line could get no purchase and two were summarily replaced at half-time. Centrefield was overrun, creating jitters that undermined the whole team effort, as Joseph Cooney put in a barnstorming display to bend the sector to Galway’s will.

The winners had the chances and the control but were negligent in translating this into a commensurate total. They were consequently vulnerable to the Tipperary comeback, built on a feisty scoring sequence that halved an eight-point deficit going into the last quarter.

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When replacement John McGrath hammered a loose ball into the net in the 62nd minute, the margin was down to one, 1-16 to 1-15. The score had been brought about by a great chase and dispossession of Gearóid McInerney by Jake Morris, who overall endured a frustrating evening, and a long delivery whipped in by Conor Bowe.

Instinctively there was scepticism that this would actually fuel a successful recovery and so it proved. Immediately, Tom Monaghan, who put up a creditable 0-3 after coming on in the 50th minute, replied with his second score, making it clear that Galway weren’t about to crumble.

The prospect of a collapse wouldn’t have been far from the thoughts of the nearly 35,000 crowd given the late evaporation of the Leinster final, which saw the Bob O’Keeffe Cup cruelly diverted from crossing the Shannon to the more familiar journey back to Kilkenny.

Neither was it far from Henry Shefflin’s thoughts. Key to the disappointment of two weeks previously was the almost incontinent concession of goals. Given Tipperary’s ability in that respect, Galway were determined to shut down the avenues of approach.

“We knew they would partly run at us and try to create those goalscoring chances and we knew we would have some bodies back there,” said the Galway manager.

Cathal Mannion dropped deep as a defensive auxiliary and the conventional troops weren’t taking any nonsense. McInerney nimbly blocked a rare incision when a Séamus Callanan gallop briefly unveiled opportunity for Tipp and Daithí Burke marshalled the rearguard and had time to drop over a galvanising point in the second half

It was a miserable first half for Tipperary. They put up just seven scores, the preponderance from Jason Forde’s frees and were under pressure from the start. Defences were largely on top but Galway’s inside forwards threatened infinitely more.

Conor Whelan bungled a couple of goal chances and Rhys Shelly was proving hard to beat, but this was more context for the tight half-time lead than a cause for Tipperary optimism.

Less than 20 seconds into the second half, that became starkly evident. Whelan seized on the opportunity of a long ball hit into the full-forward line to disrupt the defenders, dribble the ball around them and pick it up for a goal chance that he wasn’t going to waste.

He was well supported by Kevin Cooney while Evan Niland gave further notice that he is adapting well to the demands of this level. As well as the high-end dead-ball accuracy, he was moving confidently and can expect to be a bigger influence on the semi-final than the late, late replacement he has been in the recent Limerick semi-finals.

There was a buoyancy about Galway that Saturday’s opponents couldn’t match. Equipped with a six-point lead, 1-10 to 0-7, they set about putting the match out of the range of conjecture.

Tipperary had improved things by running the bench at half-time and replacing the veteran Callanan and Mark Kehoe. Replacement Gearóid O’Connor made a nuisance of himself, replying immediately to the Whelan goal, and working hard at raising the game in the forwards.

The spirited passage of score-taking that began the final quarter with Ronan Maher’s defiant long hit and included points from Forde (one in play and a free) and another sub, Johnny Ryan, didn’t immediately suggest the comeback was on, as Monaghan came on and his first score pushed the margin out to five.

But they stuck at it. Séamus Kennedy ate away at the scoreboard with two points and Forde continued to nail his frees, which taken with McGrath’s goal turned the match into an unlikely cliffhanger in keeping with the fixture’s traditions.

Yet all the while Galway’s motor was still running, albeit as fitfully as ever. With a point in it, the tireless Cianan Fahy was given a one-on-one chance by Cathal Mannion’s surge through the middle. Shelly again came to the rescue.

So, it is another date with Limerick for Galway – a third All-Ireland semi-final between the counties in four years – and as a team that has lost by just three points on the previous occasions, Shefflin’s troupers won’t pose any less of an obstacle for the serial champions.

GALWAY: Éanna Murphy; Jack Grealish, Gearóid McInerney, Darren Morrissey; Cathal Mannion, Daithi Burke (0-1), Pádraic Mannion; Joseph Cooney (0-1), Seán Linnane; Brian Concannon, Cianan Fahy (0-2), Ronan Glennon (0-1); Conor Whelan (1-4), Kevin Cooney, Evan Niland (0-8, six frees, one sideline).

Subs: Tom Monaghan (0-3) for Glennon (50 mins), Conor Cooney for Concannon (55), Jason Flynn for K Cooney (62), Fintan Burke for McInerney (63), Liam Collins for Fahy (73).

TIPPERARY: Rhys Shelly; Cathal Barrett, Michael Breen (0-1), Eoghan Connolly; Bryan O’Mara, Ronan Maher (0-1), Dan McCormack; Conor Stakelum, Noel McGrath (capt); Alan Tynan (0-2), Jason Forde (0-10, eight frees), Séamus Kennedy (0-2); Jake Morris, Séamus Callanan, Mark Kehoe.

Subs: Conor Bowe for Kehoe, Gearóid O’Connor (0-1) for Callanan (boh h-t), Johnny Ryan (0-1) for Stakelum (50 mins), John McGrath (1-0) for N McGrath (54), Jack Ryan for Tynan (71).

Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow).