REALISING full well that without a number of keys players they would be competing on something of a wing and prayer, Limerick saw their worst fears realised yesterday as Galway hit a purple patch to register an easy win in a one sided tie at Athenry.
The gulf in standards was alarming and the Limerick players, who had not tasted defeat in their impressive League campaign, were incapable of redressing a worsening situation.
"It must have been just beautiful for the Galway supporters to watch," said Limerick manager Tom Ryan afterwards.
However, Limerick unquestionably had next Sunday's first round Munster championship clash against Waterford on their minds.
Ryan was insisting that the Limerick performance was a "once off".
"We always knew that we were going to be vulnerable in defence without Ciaran Carey, Mark Foley and Declan Nash" said Ryan.
However, Ryan did not hold back in his criticism of the rest of the team. "Our midfield wasn't in it and we were short of ideas," he added.
Galway, inspired by so many fine individual performances, will be hoping to maintain yesterday's fine form in the crucial League and championship matches ahead.
No two players were as impressive as Galway wing forwards Francis Forde and Kevin Broderick. Feeding off the dominance of midfielders Liam Burke and Vinnie Maher, and supplied by an inspired halfback line of Nigel Shaughnessy, Cathal Moore and Padraig Kelly, the performance given by the Forde and Broderick was one of the most defining features of the match.
Their capacity to pop up in space, gain yards on their markers and whip home excellent scores was the sort of play Tom Ryan was talking about that delighted the Galway followers in the 6,000 crowd.
All of Galway's six forwards scored and their prolific efforts were suitably supplemented by five points from midfielders Burke and Maher.
Joe Rabbitte and Ollie Fahy's distribution was always accurate and astute. Joe McGrath made an excellent return to the attack at centre forward. The Galway goal that put the game completely out of Limerick's reach arriving 11 minutes into the second half and giving Galway an 1-18 to 0-6 lead was a classic example of the attack's precision play.
Burke lobbed the sliotar towards Rabbitte at the right of the square. Rabbitte's handpass into Darragh Coen was inch perfect and the corner forward released to the unmarked Forde who kicked home.
One had to agree with Tom Ryan when he said that wind advantage counted for little. Galway raced away to a 0-16 to 0-4 lead, but it had more to do with their teamwork and individual skills than the wind advantage they enjoyed over the first 30 minutes.
Cyril Farrell, the Galway manager, was not letting his feet leave the ground. "I wouldn't read too much into the winning margin. They were short after all, but I was glad to see that we were able to play like that without two of our more established players, Joe Cooney and Michael Coleman.
The injured Cooney, watching from the sidelines, said "it was mighty" to watch.
Gary Kirby, selected at corner forward, seemed the only player capable of inspiring Limerick. When he moved out from the left corner to centre half forward in the first quarter, there was a brief improvement. He tried for goals off two close frees in the last quarter without success, but netted a third attempt near the end to put a respectable look on the scoreboard.
