Limerick edge Galway in All-Ireland final combined 15

Niall McIntyre

Limerick 8 Galway 7.

And then there were two. Galway and Limerick have survived the hits of the round-robins, they’ve stood tallest and longest in the All-Ireland series, they’re contesting the All-Ireland final on Sunday.

Galway go into the earlier than usual decider as favourites but John Kiely’s Limerick are young, well drilled and they are hungry. They’ve been as good as if not better than Galway to date.

Sunday will tell all.

Here’s our combined team.

Johnny Glynn didn’t even make the cut.

1 Nickie Quaid (Limerick)

Enough said.

There was a moment when @LimerickCLG's hopes of a place in this Sunday's All-Ireland Hurling Final could have ended.. But goalkeeper Nickie Quaid came and rescued those dreams with this unbelievable save! Watch it here with GAANOW! pic.twitter.com/1M4lb499Ez

— The GAA (@officialgaa) August 14, 2018

2 Sean Finn (Limerick)

Has been solid as a rock all year. Teak tough and tidy, he’s been stuck in corner forward’s shorts all year and very few of them have gotten a run on him.

3 Daithí Burke (Galway)

Holds his square hostage. Minds his house like a pedigree guard dog. Has made Walter Walsh look small, it takes something other wordly to get past him.

4 Richie English (Limerick)

Just like Finn in the opposite corner, English has been water-tight to date.

5 Padraig Mannion (Galway)

Gallops forward like a thoroughbred racehorse and being in possession of the sliotar only makes him go faster. Never breaks stride to pick up a ball, leaps like a salmon to claw skyscrapers.

Tough and hardy, he brings fight and steel to the show too and no forward will ever have it easy on the Ahascragh-Foghenagh dynamo.

Jesus he’s some yoke.

6 Gearóid McInerney (Galway)

Having missed the semi-final, big Gearoid Mc is a doubt for the Tribesmen going into the decider and was he to miss out, the men in maroon would be facing a much tougher task.

Some yoke to do a job.

7 Dan Morrissey (Limerick)

Has fetched dropping ball after dropping ball all year in the Treaty’s first line of defence. Has a tendency for a long-range boomer and his powerful plays always lift the crowd.

8 Cian Lynch (Limerick)

Owner of the best slickest first touch in Ireland. Also one of the country’s most unselfish players.

9 David Burke (Galway)

Has mixed the sublime with the inconsistent this year. A leader of men, his inclusion is earned here.

10 Tom Morrissey (Limerick)

Didn’t shine in the semi-final but his county wouldn’t have been there only for his heroics in Thurles the week previous. Just shading Gearóid Hegarty.