Successive wins over Offaly, Wexford, Antrim, and Dublin have put Galway exactly where they would have wanted to be at the start of the campaign, with a guaranteed place in an All-Ireland quarter final and a chance to annex the Bob O’Keeffe Cup back to the west for only the fourth time.
Since their last provincial triumph in Semple Stadium in 2018, Galway have lost three deciders in a row to Kilkenny (2020, 2022, 2023 ), most memorably two years ago when Cillian Buckley snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat with an unlikely late goal for the Cats.
Derek Lyng’s side are hoping to extend their provincial supremacy to six-in-a-row but are still trailing in the wake of the seven-in-a-row recorded between 2005 and 2011. Five All-Ireland titles were bagged in that spell, but Kilkenny have not been able to turn their recent provincial dominance into a similar haul as Limerick impressively took over as national kingpins.
Since they won the first of their record 36 All-Ireland crowns in 1904, Kilkenny have never gone more than ten years without winning a senior title, but that will happen this year if TJ Reid cannot add to the last of his seven winners’ medals picked up in 2015.
Galway are very much the underdogs for this fixture based on the counties' last meeting and the fact that Galway have not beaten Kilkenny in Croke Park since the Leinster final in 2012, with Sunday’s clash being the tenth encounter at GAA HQ since that historic day.
Maybe there are omens to be taken from that match, when Galway were written off as cannon fodder but ravenously tore into Kilkenny from the opening whistle and led by 1-6 to no score at the end of a first quarter in which Kilkenny did not even register a wide.
Conor Cooney and David Burke will have vivid memories of their involvement that day and will be emphasising within the current group that anything is possible.
Micheál Donoghue will be hoping that the consistent uptick in work rate and performance levels continues, but the reality is that Galway need the likes of Cathal Mannion, Brian Concannon, Tom Monaghan and Conor Whelan to be firing accurately on all cylinders for his side to have a creditable chance.
Kilkenny’s defence is undoubtedly a much sterner test while Reid, Adrian Mullen, and Eoin Cody are lethal in front of the posts if given the opportunities. Mossy Keoghan is also in a rich vein of form and it will be interesting to see if Daithí Burke is again given a more roving defensive role that worked well in Parnell Park or will he be reassigned to the edge of the square. Galway will have to wait and see if goalkeeper Darach Fahy will be available after an appeal against his retrospective one-match ban following the Dublin game is heard this week.
Galway supporters will travel to the capital more in hope than expectation of success but this Kilkenny side while strong are far from unbeatable.
