Twelve months is a long time in sport. This time last year Clarinbridge native Micheál Donoghue and Michael Ryan were helping Eamon O'Shea in the backroom of the Tipperary senior hurling team which was beaten by Anthony Cunningham's Galway. That 2015 All-Ireland semi-final was an epic game with Galway prevailing 0-26 to 3-16.
Fast forward a year. Donoghue is the Galway senior manager in direct opposition to Tipperary new manager Michael Ryan when the two teams face each other in this year's semi-final in Croke Park at 3.30pm.
It is some turn around. The prize on offer for both teams is massive, a place in the All-Ireland final against either Kilkenny or Waterford.
Donoghue is enjoying the year thus far, and he and his management team are making progress. Excluding Greg Lally's cruciate, they have a full deck from which to select, which is a massive positive, with Iarla Tannian, who was centre-back last year, finally getting back to full fitness.
"We've been fortunate enough," Donoghue says. "The squad is working really hard, so we've 33 or 34 lads on the panel that are pushing each other on. They are working hard, not alone to get into the starting 15, but there's huge competition to get into the 26 every time too, and that's been the same again since the quarter-final win over Clare. Everyone's working really hard together on it and it's going well, and we are really looking forward to the clash with Tipperary on Sunday."
Intensity
Tipperary manager Michael Ryan has spoken recently about the need for his team to match Galway's intensity on Sunday.
"One of the reasons we failed in 2015 was that Galway got to a level of intensity that we just didn't match, or couldn't match."
Since his appointment Ryan has developed his team's physicality and directness, and it is a strategy that paid dividends in their successful Munster championship campaign.
Most of that intensity and work-rate is needed in the middle third, and it is where the game will probably be won or lost in three days' time.
Galway manager Micheál Donoghue concurs.
"The middle third is going to be huge, you have to win that battle there. Obviously, limit the supply going inside. Those are massive areas against any team and that is going to come down to your attitude, your work-rate, getting on breaking ball, so I think that area is going to have a huge bearing on the game.
Obviously Seamie [Callanan] is a class player and has huge quality and is a huge threat. The first thing is to try to cut down the supply to him and obviously if he's causing damage, see how we can restrict it."
Big performance needed
Galway team selector Frannie Forde says improved work rate is key.
"At the end of the day we need a big performance this weekend. I would say that if we perform to the same level as we did against Clare, there will only be one result. It won't be nearly good enough. It is as simple as that.
"You can talk about consistency, but I would say our performance levels from the Leinster final to the quarter final were somewhat similar, maybe a slight improvement in the work-rate. That wouldn't be nearly good enough for next Sunday. Simple as that.
"You know what you're going to get from Tipperary, and what you're going to get is a really high level. There is a reason why Tipp and Kilkenny come back every year and are in semi-finals pretty much every year. That said, we are only focused on ourselves and on the things we can control. We need to produce a top level display and see where that brings us."
"Sunday is knockout hurling, so whichever team produces a big performance on the day will get through. We know that and so does Tipperary."
