Galway melt in the acid of relentless Limerick aggression

At the final whistle John Kiely hugged everyone within arm’s reach. You could tell that he was trying to keep a cap on his emotions, but euphoria trampled all over his reserve. The significance of this Limerick performance was lost on nobody: powerful, emphatic, bullying, deadly. All of the things we used to say without thinking.

Nothing about Limerick’s summer had been simple. Ten-a-penny predictions of a linear championship had gone haywire, and there was a long period in the first half on Saturday when it looked like all the doubts and questions had reached a reckoning. Galway led by six, and threatened to lead by more, and nothing about it felt fake or freakish. Nickie Quaid took a knee and called for treatment. Limerick were in a fog.

Paul Kinnerk, Limerick’s head of Research and Development, left his seat during a break in play and beckoned two Limerick players to the sideline for an emergency consultation, about 10 minutes before half-time. Kiely motioned to the forwards to keep moving around. That wasn’t the solution. He probably felt he needed to say something. In the Kiely era, problem-solving has been their super power. They worked Galway out. It didn’t take long.

For Limerick, it was their biggest win since the opening game in last year’s Munster championship, but the measure of this performance was far greater than the winning margin. Everything about it was restorative.

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Kiely will point to the third quarter, as he often does, and the numbers in that period brooked no argument: Limerick racked up 1-5, Galway scored twice. But the game swung on the closing minutes of the first half, when Limerick landed six scores to one in reply, applying a bandage to the wound until they could do some stitching.

For Galway to lead by just a point at the break was a miserable token of the good stuff they had played for 25 minutes. All of a sudden, it was meaningless. They had built a straw house.

It is hard to imagine now how the outcome could have been different, but in the middle of Limerick’s revival before half-time there was a sliding doors moment. Brian Concannon whipped on a ball that beat Quaid and struck Mike Casey’s hurley, standing in the last ditch. Casey didn’t make any deliberate movement towards the ball, but he had put himself in a position where any luck would be a jackpot.

After scoring a goal into Hill 16 once, with a shot that was all reflex and no forethought, DJ Carey said that his hurley must have had eyes. Casey’s hurley had that kind of sight. Limerick scored in the next attack.

Ultimately, Galway couldn’t execute all of the things they knew were essential. Aaron Gillane destroyed them last year, and did so again. In a spooky apparition, his first goal after five minutes was a replica of the one Henry Shefflin scored against Limerick early in the 2007 All-Ireland: just like Shefflin, Gillane blindsided his marker on the edge of the square and fielded the ball behind his man.

Gillane finished the game with eight scores from nine shots, 2-1 from play. Limerick had 11 different scorers to Galway’s six; nine of them scored from play. In everything they do the All-Ireland champions are chaperoned by their metrics.

Kiely always talks about efficiency in their shooting, but they are concerned about volume too. In most of their championship games this summer their output had been down. On Saturday night, though, they discharged 40 shots, which was back to the level of the league final. On any given day, 40 shots is their baseline target.

Limerick made the game turn on fundamental stuff. They insisted. Like so many other teams, Galway melted in the acid of Limerick’s aggression. After half-time they committed more bodies to the middle third and turned it into a swamp. Galway lost everything: shape, momentum, hope.

Their big players went missing, or were snuffed out. Take Conor Whelan. In the first half, he was a constant menace. Limerick’s backs took turns picking him up, but he won contested ball against Casey, Dan Morrissey and Barry Nash. He stood under a long puck-out and caught it cleanly, behind enemy lines.

Whelan scored two beautiful points in the first half and another just after the break, and then didn’t have another possession until the third minute of stoppage time, 36 minutes later. He drifted away from goal and got lost in a crowd.

But it wasn’t just him: a meltdown on this scale falls on everyone’s heads. Afterwards Shefflin made no attempt at deflection. Galway are no better now than when he started. Beating Limerick was his headline mission. They were close last year; they were buried on Saturday. On their good days, Limerick make everything clear.