Galway 1-18 Limerick 2-14: Limerick made championship history at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening, not because of what they did, but because of what they were trying to do. They found themselves in the never-before-seen championship situation whereby not even a draw would save their day - and yet losing didn't really matter.
There they were, a point down in injury-time, and trying desperately for a goal. Patrick Kirby floated a couple of efforts in around the goalmouth, only for Galway's defence to stand firm.
Galway's superior scoring average meant they would top the qualifying group had it ended in a draw, so Limerick needed the win - assuming they wanted the lesser of two evils in the next round. Still the only difference the result made in the end was that Limerick get to play Kilkenny and Galway supposedly have the easier task of playing Tipperary.
Like the crowd of around 9,000 both managers could be relatively satisfied. "We showed some good character out there," said Galway's Conor Hayes "and that was the main thing. If it came down to a battle I wanted them to show that . . . I think we can be competitive from here on in."
For Limerick's Joe McKenna it probably was more important his team had played well in the second half, in stark contrast to the first period. They had the beating of Galway but ultimately caused their own downfall with some silly mistakes and 15 wides.
"It really wasn't about who we were going to meet in the next round," he said. "But this is really where it starts. I think there's a lot of hurling to be done yet."
Limerick seemed to suffer a crisis of confidence in the first half, trailing 1-9 to 0-6 at the break. The absence of Damien Reale was felt in the defence, where a series of errors led directly to Galway scores - including a Damien Hayes goal on 16 minutes. That came during a period when Galway scored 1-5 without reply.
The situation changed in the second half. Kirby set up Donie Ryan for a goal after 30 seconds. A point from Niall Moran and a penalty from TJ Ryan gave Limerick a one-point lead. The response was swift with Ger Farragher and David Tierney combining to put Galway in front.
Limerick tied the scores twice in the last 10 minutes but, crucially, Kirby missed a couple of frees. Farragher popped over his sixth free to edge Galway in front, and give them a little less to fret about in the quarter-finals.
GALWAY: 1 L Donoghue; 2 D Joyce, 3 S Kavanagh, 4 C Coen; 5 D Collins, 6 D Hardiman, 7 O Canning (0-1); 8 T Ó Regan (0-1, a free), 9 F Healy (0-1); 10 R Murray (0-1), 11 D Forde, 12 D Tierney (0-1); 13 G Farragher (0-8, six frees), 14 K Hayes, 15 D Hayes (1-4) Subs: 17 A Kerins (0-1) for Hayes (48 mins), N Healy for Tierney (65 mins).
LIMERICK: 1 T Houlihan; 2 M Clifford, 3 S Lucey, 4 M Foley; 5 P O'Dwyer, 6 B Geary, 7 P Lawlor; 8 P O'Grady (0-2), 9 D O'Grady; 10 A O'Shaughnessy, 11 O Moran (0-1), 12 N Moran (0-2); 13 D Ryan (1-0), 14 TJ Ryan (1-2, one free), 15 P Kirby (0-6, five frees). Subs: 20 K Tobin for Clifford (23 mins), 19 P Tobin (0-1) for O'Shaughnessy (43 mins), 18 C Fitzgerald for N Moran (47 mins), 22 J O'Brien for Tobin (53 mins).
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).
