Matthew Tierney might be too young to remember the last time that Galway claimed the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship back in 2001 - but he’s seen the tapes back plenty as he told the media in Pearse Stadium last week.
The 21-year-old has had a rapid rise through the game and is about to set out on his greatest adventure yet, a crack at bringing the Sam Maguire Cup back to Galway for the first time in more than two decades.
“There’s an unbelievable buzz around Galway right now and rightly so there should be," he says. "It’s a massive occasion for everyone and we’re all feeling good and looking forward to seeing how we get on the next day."
Getting on and winning in national finals is something that Tierney does pretty well at already despite his yoiung age.
He kicked four points for the Galway U20s in the All-Ireland final win over Dublin in 2020, earlier that year he was a key man for Oughterard in their All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship win over Magheracloone and earlier this year he captained NUIG to their first Sigerson Cup triumph in almost two decades.
With Galway in 2022 it has all been a case of taking it game on game according to Tierney and that has bared fruit for them. “It’s been going well for sure, it’s been a great year starting off with the FBD League that went good for us," Tierney says.
"Then we went into the league and knew it was going to be very competitive, no real room for error with teams like Derry and Roscommon in it. They were all pressure games that we had to get over and we did.
“Then it was focused on the Mayo game and that was a huge win for us and it was a tight game that will stand to us. Then it was on to the next thing which was win Connacht and after that take it game on game to get to where we are.”
Tierney, of course, was the man who stuck away the winning penalty in that pressure shoot-out against Armagh in the quarter-finals and it wasn’t simply down to luck.
“Just do what you always do and stick to it, Scan [John Concannon] would have us taking penalties at training and it’s all about sticking to what you know.” You’ll count on the same result if he has to do it again on Sunday.
