Search Results for 'Liam MacCarthy'

There is an old saying that sport can be wonderfully uplifting one week and brutally unforgiving the next. Galway hurling experienced both ends of that spectrum in the space of a fortnight.

Aaron Niland is Galway’s top scorer in this year’s championship going into Sunday’s All-Ireland decider.

Galway enter Sunday’s All-Ireland showpiece as firm underdogs. But history suggests there are few sweeter things in life than an underdog success story.

The second half of Galway’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tipperary last summer made for painful viewing. The eventual Liam MacCarthy champions swept aside the Tribesmen with an ease that was as alarming as it was sobering in front of a sea of Tipp support.

Thirteen days out from an All-Ireland final, and less than 48 hours after Galway had shocked Cork in Croke Park, Micheál Donoghue cut a noticeably relaxed and content figure as he sat down with members of the local media.

It is hard to believe how much water has flowed under the bridge since Galway’s last All-Ireland final appearance in 2018. That campaign seemed to be trucking along nicely before Limerick edged Galway in the final to end a 45-year Liam MacCarthy famine.

Galway take on Limerick this weekend in one of the biggest days in the Irish sporting calendar.

History often turns not on dominance, but on moments. A hooked hurley. A misplaced handpass. A goal at precisely the right time. Sport has an extraordinary way of disguising seismic change behind the narrowest of margins.

Not since 2018, when Galway entered the championship as Liam MacCarthy holders, has there been this level of excitement and optimism surrounding the senior hurlers ahead of championship.

A five-point defeat to your fiercest rivals will always sting, but last Saturday night in Thurles is unlikely to leave any lasting scars.