Micheál Donoghue, who was manager of Galway when whey last won the MacCarthy Cup in 2017, did a brilliant job in the All-Ireland semi-final when he masterminded Galway’s win over hot favorites Cork. Now he aims to do it all again on Sunday next when his charges play Limerick in the All-Ireland final.
That win over Waterford in 2017 ended a long wait for the MacCarthy Cup going back to 1988 when Galway retained the title they had won in 1987. Nine years ago, Joe Canning was Galway’s top man and most neutral supporters were happy that Canning did eventually got that elusive All-Ireland medal.
Now Jason Rabbitte, son of a former Galway star Joe Rabbitte, is their “go to” player. Against Cork, Galway pulled their other 13 outfield players back and used Rabbitte as a target man up front. The plan worked against Cork, but maybe the Limerick defense will be cleverer on Sunday. In the past nobody knew what to expect from Galway in the era when they got a free-run to the All-Ireland semi-finals. But maybe we should all have had more respect for Galway this year after they won out in what was admittedly a poor Leinster championship.
This will only be the fourth final between the counties, Galway winning in 1923 and 1980 and Limerick winning in their last final meeting in 2018. History shows that that after producing stunning against-the-odds All-Ireland semi-final wins, Galway have often under-performed in finals.
Limerick’s Cian Lynch during a media event last week in Woodlands House, Adare, Co. Limerick, ahead of this Sunday’s All Ireland final. [Inpho/James Crombie]
Limerick struggled for long periods to get by a revitalized Clare in their semi-final and I think Galway can win, but only if they can reproduce their semi-final form. Limerick manager John Kiely is confident that Cian Lynch, who sat on the bench for most of the game against Clare will be fit for Sunday.
The manager said: ‘‘Ciano is flying it. He is perfect. The fact that he got through the Clare game was very reassuring. He had a sprain and the window was tight. It’s so competitive at the moment within the group, you are trying to balance the starting and the finishing. What does the start look like, what does the finish look like? We gave Cian the job to finish it the last day.’’
The referee on Sunday will be Colm Lyons from Cork. It will be his second final, having taken charge of the 2022 final between Limerick and Kilkenny.
