“Ooooh, I can feel the shudders all the way up here on the seventh floor!”
Eight minutes into the All-Ireland Hurling Final and Limerick were tipping along nicely.
John Kiely’s men had come out of the blocks at a decent clip and were 0-4 to 0-2 up against the reigning champions.
Seamus Flanagan was putting himself about, and then some…
Cian Lynch had just scored an amazing point after jinking and stepping by three Galway men and zinging one over the bar. James Skehill found Johnny Coen in midfield with a puck-out but he was swarmed by green jerseys and lost the ball.
Then, as he had done so many times this season and last, Gearoid McInerney arrived on the scene and burst up the field. The talismanic McInerney left three Limerick men in his wake and spotted Seamus Flanagan in his path.
He braced for impact and heaved into the Limerick forward but their collision went south.
Flanagan planted his feet and let the Galway half back feel every bit of a crunching impact, which left him in a bundle.
The big man had to pick himself up the deck as play raged on. As statements of intent go, this was seismic.
There would be many more epic moments for Limerick during the final victory but this felt massive when it played out live.
Marty Morrissey, on commentary duty for RTE, declared:
“I can feel the shudders all the way up here on the seventh floor”
Unfortunately, such was the pace of the opening 10 minutes, TV viewers never got an opportunity to see the a replay of the moment. In fairness, Limerick fans will be reliving it over and over in the coming months.
Let’s hope The Sunday Game have another look back on the game and pop it into the highlights package later on.
