GAELIC GAMES: Old men with leathered faces and eyes which have seen everything twice, stood and gazed out at the turf upon which the tribes were dancing. The best game ever, they said, the best game ever.

Nit-picking purists and dreary scholars will argue, of course, but for context and excitement and sheer wonder, Croke Park yesterday was the place to be. The centre of the universe. There were just under 40,000 there but in years to come at least five times that amount will claim to have breathed the same northside air through these 70 minutes of hurling

What we saw was a Galway team who were humiliated to the tune of a 19-point margin by Kilkenny last summer come to Croke Park on a big day and drive five goals past Kilkenny. The last time that was done to Kilkenny was 33 years ago (an 80-minute game and they managed a draw) and it's something which one could go a hurling lifetime without witnessing.

And Galway conceded four goals as they rode the carriage to the top of the hill and then hurtled into the valley below. They led by 11 points at one stage and were clinging on with white knuckles at the finish.

Picking stories out of the game is like scooping fish from a teeming barrel. When young Niall Healy saw Kevin Broderick warming up on the sideline early in the second half he can only have assumed that his own number was up. He was scoreless and making little impression.

Broderick warmed his hamstring for the longest time. He did indeed replace Niall Healy. By then Healy had scored three goals. You've never heard such crazy boasting.

"I was lucky for the first one," said Niall. "Richie (Murray) took a shot and McGarry made a good save. For the second one I had a bit of space. I couldn't miss. Couldn't miss the three of them, really. I was lucky for them all."

And when he came off, did he reflect on the glory of the hour? "Sure it doesn't matter who scores them," he said "Just being in a final is what counts. I couldn't watch. I lay down and just listened to the crowd roaring. Eddie Brennan was on fire. And DJ. I just couldn't look."

Ah. Days like this. The stories just come out with their hands up. Surrendering en masse. Ger Farragher, who had a wonderful underage career, has made the senior breakthrough this year and all winter and summer people have looked at him and said "yeah he's good, but he ain't Eugene Cloonan". The last time Galway beat Kilkenny on a big day was four years ago - same greasy sod, inferior game. Cloonan scored 2-9 that afternoon. Yesterday Ger Farragher matched that amount. 2-9 v Kilkenny. A made man.

"Words can't describe it," he said. "They were never going to be easy beaten. They're a super team. For us, though, next Tuesday and we're back out again. We've a final to train for."

Galway with an All-Ireland final to train for. It feels as if the season itself is owed an apology. Freighted with inevitability, it seemed we wrote the season off as banal and grey and depressing. Cork and Kilkenny saving themselves for each other. Instead on September 11th, Galway bring the best minor side of recent years to Croke Park to play Limerick and their seniors surf in on a wave of confidence to play a Cork team who are struggling with their form. We were watching perestroika all along, without knowing it.

"An incredible game really," said Conor Hayes who played in a few of them himself. "the speed, the scoring. It was open and fast. To be honest, we're a bit flabbergasted by it all."

So was every witness to it. We'd settled back into our seats early on when Eddie Brennan, dusted down and re-inserted into the Kilkenny line-up, ran around like a crazed arsonist lighting up everything he touched. A goal and two points in the opening nine minutes. Galway having to switch Damien Joyce off him before he'd broken sweat. By the end of the half the game had gone crazy, though, and Brennan was a vanishing sub-plot. From the 31st minute of the half until the whistle to take a break Farragher had his two goals, David Tierney had a point, Henry Shefflin had a goal and so had John Hoyne.

When we settled again we looked at the scoreboard. Kilkenny had scored three goals and trailed by three points. It was a day for strange magical things. Niall Healy had scarcely touched a ball. We lacked the equipment to make any sense of it all but assumed that Kilkenny didn't suffer the same deficiency. They would come out and make short work of the second half. Order would be restored.

It was not to be and afterwards Brian Cody was as calm and gracious in defeat as he has been on the days of so many victories.

"Amazing game, really. On the sideline it was just going every way. At the end of the day it's an All-Ireland semi-final. They're in a final and we're not. I don't attribute the loss to any of our players, the commitment and love of hurling is there in every player. These fellas are used to being in All-Ireland finals every year but life's not like that."

It's not but we'd come to expect it too. Yesterday's absurd and beautiful turn in events changes the way the game looks and how the summer feels. A little drop of history.