Stunning second half by Limerick crushes Galway’s resistance at Croke Park

All-Ireland SHC semi-final: Limerick 2-24 Galway 1-18

Henry Shefflin knows a thing or two about the four-in-a-row, for he once crested that wave. But on Saturday night he could only watch as his Galway team got crushed by a Limerick side rolling in towards that same history-making landfall.

Shefflin was part of the great Kilkenny team which achieved four on the bounce between 2006-’09, joining Cork (1941-’44) as the only counties to have managed the feat. Limerick are now pounding on that door.

“They have the best players in the country and that hunger and desire is there, that’s the reason why they are still going, that consistency and hunger to keep going to the well is very impressive,” said Shefflin.

“It’s two weeks now until the final, which probably suits them again, they are just in prime position to attack that as well.”

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Galway actually led 1-13 to 1-12 at half-time in this All-Ireland SHC semi-final in front of 59,739 at Croke Park.

But Limerick outscored the Tribesmen 1-12 to 0-5 in a stunning second-half display where they demonstrated the attributes of champions – control, cohesion, power, aggression, desire. They were awesome, the Munster champions took ownership of the contest in every sector.

But John Kiely says he doesn’t need another Liam MacCarthy success to be aware of his team’s place in the game.

“I’ve often said it to the lads, they don’t need any further success to demonstrate to them or me or anybody else that they are a great team,” he said.

“They have been a fantastic bunch of men. They are, and will continue to be, a fantastic bunch of men, no matter what happens.

“That [four in-a-row] is something that obviously is a point of focus, but you can’t concentrate on the finishing line, you have to concentrate on the piece of work in front of you.

“And we’ve done that very successfully right throughout the season. That’s been there since the day we left here last year, that was always going to be there as a question: Could it be done or will it be done?”

It looked unlikely after 25 minutes on Saturday as Limerick found themselves six points adrift, 1-12 to 1-6. But less than an hour later we were the suckers. The game had started to swing before the break, when Limerick outscored Galway 0-6 to 0-1 from the 30th minute until the interval.

Aaron Gillane’s 47th-minute goal was the pivotal score, 2-16 to 1-15. As soon as the umpire waved the green flag, Galway waved a white one. They wilted, accepted their fate. They surrendered.

Conor Whelan had tormented Limerick in the first half but hardly touched the ball in the second. In the middle third of the field, Darragh O’Donovan, Cian Lynch, Kyle Hayes and Diarmaid Byrnes started to exert huge influence. The Galway defence was taking on water from early in the second half and Gillane’s second goal sunk their resistance.

This was a repeat of last year’s semi-final when Limerick ran out 0-27 to 1-21 winners.

“I spoke during the week and said we were in a better place this year to really attack this game,” added Shefflin. “So we are very disappointed heading back down the road. We brought a lot of fight to last year and that fight went out of it during the second half.

“Once they got the second goal it really felt like there was only going to be one winner, which is very disappointing for us because that is where that test of character which we have spoken about all year really comes into it, but we didn’t have that today.”

Limerick hope captain Declan Hannon will be available for the final after missing Saturday’s win over Galway with a knee injury.

“He has got every chance,” said Kiely. “We just have to wait and see how he is able to cope with the bit of work during the next week to 10 days. We’ll give him every opportunity to stake his claim.”

It remains to be seen where the Shefflin project in Galway goes from here.

“It’s funny, at this moment in time it feels very disappointing because last year we stood here and were very proud of our performance,” he said.

“That’s why we felt we had a right chance today, so it is very disappointing right at this moment in time because it feels like this year wasn’t good, but when you reflect on it I think we had more patches of good play during the year.

“But it’s all about results, that’s what I came to Galway to do, to get results, we haven’t got any for the second year so it’s very disappointing.”

The results business has been a thriving one in Limerick over recent years. On they go now in search of a fifth All-Ireland title in six years, and that historic four-in-a-row.

At the end of his press conference on Saturday, Kiely was asked if the team would be staying in Dublin for the night.

“Oh no, we’re going home,” he replied.

They’ll be back again in two weeks, sure. As they had always planned to be.

LIMERICK: Nickie Quaid; Mike Casey, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes (0-3, frees), Will O’Donoghue, Kyle Hayes (0-2); Darragh O’Donovan (0-1), Cian Lynch (capt; 0-1); Gearóid Hegarty (0-2), David Reidy (0-1), Tom Morrissey (0-2); Séamus Flanagan (0-2), Aaron Gillane (2-6, 0-5 frees), Peter Casey (0-2). Subs: Cathal O’Neill (0-1) for T Morrissey (56 mins), Graeme Mulcahy (0-1) for P Casey (67 mins), Conor Boylan for Hegarty (69 mins), Adam English for O’Donovan (72 mins), Oisín O’Reilly for Flanagan (72 mins).

GALWAY: Éanna Murphy; Jack Grealish, Gearóid McInerney, Darren Morrissey; Seán Linnane, Daithí Burke (capt), Pádraic Mannion; Ronan Glennon, Joseph Cooney; Cathal Mannion (1-1), Cianan Fahy, Brian Concannon (0-3); Evan Niland (0-9, frees), Kevin Cooney (0-1), Conor Whelan (0-3). Subs: Tom Monaghan (0-1) for Glennon (50 mins), Conor Cooney for Linnane (54 mins), Liam Collins for Concannon (63 mins), Fintan Burke for Fahy (67 mins).

Referee: James Owens (Wexford).