The race to stay in the hunt for the Liam MacCarthy Cup has gone to the final round of games in both Leinster and Munster this weekend. Drama is assured as seven counties hope to secure the five remaining places in the latter stages of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship.
Kilkenny are the only county currently assured of their place and for Galway the equation appears simple, but one important permutation could yet go in their favour. Beat Micheál Donoghue’s Dublin side in Pearse Stadium on Sunday (throw-in: 2pm ) and they will be guaranteed a place in the Leinster final in Croke Park on Saturday, June 8th.
A draw in Salthill combined with a Wexford win would see Galway through in third place on scoring difference. Any other set of results will see Galway will bow out of the championship at this juncture for the first time since 2019.
On that occasion the scenario was similar in that Galway faced Dublin and Kilkenny took on Wexford, but the venues were not the same and Galway were in a far stronger position in that only a combination of a loss and a draw in the Kilkenny-Wexford game would end their involvement, which is what ultimately came to pass.
Back then, Galway had played in three All-Ireland finals in the previous four seasons and it could be argued that fatigue played a major part in their downfall that year. Five years on, fourteen of the players who saw game time on that day in Parnell Park are still part of the panel and Galway appear to be a team struggling to find their mojo.
Last Saturday’s 2-25 to 1-14 victory over Antrim looked routine based on the scoreline alone, but after an early period of dominance in which Gavin Lee netted, the Ulster men gained the upper hand for a large chunk of the first half and could have been a bit further than 1-11 to 1-10 in front at half time but for some errant shooting that cost them dearly.
After influential defender Ryan McGarry was sent off three minutes into the second half for a high tackle on Conor Whelan, Galway eventually took control of the contest. Conor Cooney netted a penalty and further goal chances were spurned, but Antrim’s scoring flow dissipated completely in the closing stages.
Dublin, by contrast, were pushing Kilkenny to the very pin of their collar in an enthralling contest which was only decided in Derek Lyng’s team’s favour when the returning Eoin Cody batted a shot to the net in the final minute to crush Dublin’s hopes of sealing qualification with a week to spare.
The impressive form of Donal Burke, who hit fourteen points in all, Chris Crummey, Eoghan O’Donnell, Brian Hayes, and Danny Sutcliffe will give O’Donoghue plenty of reasons to be optimistic of a positive result as he returns to his old stomping ground on Sunday.
The pressure has racheted up another notch for manager Henry Shefflin and this group of players, who will surely now need to produce their best performance of the year to date to keep their supporter’s dreams of a return to the summit alive.
