Fair play to Limerick, after a 45 year wait, finally they are All-Ireland hurling champions.
It was a fantastic occasion in Croke Park as they took down a Galway side who won the Liam McCarthy title last year and where many people’s favourites to life it again this year.
In truth, the Treaty county were full value for the victory today. From Graham Mulcahy’s goal after 15 minutes they were the better side.
The work rate from their forwards especially was a sight to behold as two of their three goals came from turnovers in the opposition’s half.
After the game manager John Kiely spoke to RTE where he tried to sum up how special this group of players are.
“They just don’t know what it is to give up. They keep going and keep going. It was really difficult there in the last few minutes but they still found a way to do it. There is no substitute for hard work, that’s the bottom line.”
Limerick were the better team on the day and deserved to win. They led Galway by eight points heading towards full-time, however the Tribesmen came roaring back through goals from Conor Whelan and Joe Canning to set up a tense and nervy finish.
“Horrendous, absolutely horrendous. If that’s what you have to do to take what we have now, we will take it.” Kiely added when discussing those final few minutes.
You can see Kiely’s interview in full below.
"We were always the bridesmaids – but today we got over the line" – John Kiely #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/O7n3DOgXbV
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 19, 2018
