Limerick ... 3-17 Galway ... 0-8A rampant Limerick tucked away a third successive All-Ireland under-21 title at Thurles yesterday and consigned their opponents to a fifth final defeat in six years. So the sorrowful mysteries of Galway's relationship with the under-21 hurling championship deepened.
John Hardiman's team had reached the final with good credentials. Twice All-Ireland minor winners and with a comfortable semi-final win over Leinster champions Wexford under their belt, Galway were reckoned locally to be in a position to give a decent account of themselves.
It never turned out that way. Apart from the persistently energetic Richie Murray and some early solid contributions from full back Shane Kavanagh and Kevin Brady on the left wing, Galway hardly ever troubled their opponents.
Limerick - showing all the benefits of a tough route to the final - were sharper and faster to the ball.
From the start they dominated at centrefield where captain Peter Lawlor and the ubiquitous Niall Moran established a steady platform and used it to feed their marauding forwards.
The three full forwards managed 3-11 between them, 3-4 from play and if that wasn't enough of a stick with which to beat Galway, longer-range points were slung over by others as far afield as corner back Damien Reale whose long-haul raid in the second half culminated in a point.
"We got scores at the right time," was the summary of Limerick manager Dave Keane, "and went in at half-time with a substantial lead. The fear I had was based on previous games where we had lost big leads so we told them at half-time that they had to concentrate, to start from scratch again. We got a goal just after half-time and I think that broke the spirit of Galway.
"It's the one time I'd say the lack of lead-up matches for Galway was a problem. They didn't know whether they'd the character to come back or not when they were put under pressure. But we proved we did have it."
After 10 minutes the match was well enough poised - Ger Farragher's free for Galway having cut the margin to 0-2 to 0-3. Farragher, who scored 0-13 against Wexford in the semi-final, wasn't as prolific on this occasion. His dead-ball striking was flawless but he struggled to make an impact in general play, either in the overrun centrefield or when moved to wing forward.
In the 11th minute Andrew O'Shaughnessy broke in off the right and, passing on the opportunity for a point, cut in close and drove to the net. In retrospect that was the end of the match and even at the time it was evident that Galway needed to effect some drastic improvement.
The goal was symptomatic of one of those problems.
Down the left flank of the defence Galway were in constant difficulty. Wholesale changes were made but insofar as they addressed deficiencies the team looked disrupted, with full forward Adrian Cullinane ending up at left-wing back, the whole centrefield changed and Murray moving around in search of optimum impact.
Limerick held their shape and remorselessly pulled away, clipping points from their abundant possession and letting the goals come. Which they duly did. Mark Keane finished one attack to the net after Patrick Kirby's shot had been well saved by Aidan Diviney in the 22nd minute. Limerick's lead was now nine points, 2-6 to 0-3.
A further barrage of points, including one stylish, solo effort from James O'Brien in the 29th minute, stretched the interval lead to 12 points, 2-10 to 0-4.
Galway's Michael Coughlan was yellow-carded at the start of the second half for an incident with Mickey Cahill as the teams were leaving the field at the break.
The match was over but Limerick didn't relent. Four minutes after the restart, Moran lofted a high ball into the square and with Kirby and O'Shaughnessy converging, it wasn't altogether clear but the latter looked to have got the touch for the third goal.
By now it was simply a matter of how embarrassing it would get for Galway. At the end of the third quarter, their replacement JP O'Connell was red-carded for a dangerous stroke on Maurice O'Brien. For good measure Limerick out-scored them 0-5 to 0-2 in the final quarter for a massive 18-point win.
Not a memorable match but a memorable achievement for Limerick who join Cork and Tipperary as the only counties to have competed a treble at this grade.
GALWAY: A Diviney; B Mahony, S Kavanagh, J Culkin; F Moore, C Dervan, D Ford; T Óg Regan, G Farragher (0-5, five frees); R Murray (0-2), M Coughlan, K Brady; D Hayes, A Cullinane, D Greene. Subs: JP O'Connell (0-1) for Regan (21 mins), MJ Quinn for Coughlan (36 mins), K Burke for Greene (48 mins).
LIMERICK: T Houlihan; D Reale (0-1), E Mulcahy, M Cahill; E Foley, P O'Dwyer, M O'Brien; P Lawlor, (0-2, one free), N Moran; C Fitzgerald (0-1), J O'Brien (0-2), K Tobin; A O'Shaughnessy (2-2), P Kirby (0-3, two frees), M Keane (1-6, five points from frees). Subs: P Tobin for Fitzgerald (59 mins), B Carroll for O'Dwyer (60 mins), R Hayes for M O'Brien (61 mins).
Referee: D Murphy (Wexford).
