![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Galway-7.jpg\")
Galway beat Limerick to claim a first All-Ireland in 1923. Pic: Courtesy of Galway GAA<\/p>\nWe sometimes stand accused of using over\u00adblown lan\u00adguage to describe what is a pas\u00adtime.<\/p>\n
Sport isn\u2019t a mat\u00adter of life and death. The alleg\u00ada\u00adtion can seem reduct\u00adive at times. But in other con\u00adtexts, the only pos\u00adsible plea is guilty. To describe a hurl\u00ading final as a battle, or to por\u00adtray two teams going to war, is espe\u00adcially over\u00adwrought when actual war has inter\u00advened in the play\u00ading of a hurl\u00ading final.<\/p>\n
The 1923 All-Ireland final between Gal\u00adway and Lim\u00ader\u00adick was the first of three pre\u00advi\u00adous meet\u00adings between Sunday\u2019s com\u00adbatants (see, there we go again). That final wasn\u2019t played until Septem\u00adber 1924 on account of the Civil War. It was due to be played in June of \u201924, but the Lim\u00ader\u00adick play\u00aders refused to ful\u00adfil the fix\u00adture.<\/p>\n
Galway beat Limerick to claim a first All-Ireland in 1923. Pic: Courtesy of Galway GAA<\/p>\n
They were protest\u00ading the ongo\u00ading intern\u00adment of anti-Treaty IRA mem\u00adbers, a pun\u00adgent reminder that sport and polit\u00adics have been mix\u00ading in this coun\u00adtry for many gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions.<\/p>\n
The dis\u00adrup\u00adtion to the run\u00adning of the GAA provides a use\u00adful, highly loc\u00adal\u00adised example of how the Civil War dis\u00adrup\u00adted every\u00adday life: Lim\u00ader\u00adick had won the 1921 All-Ire\u00adland and became the first team to be awar\u00added the Mac\u00adCarthy Cup \u2014 but the final was played in March 1923.<\/p>\n
When the 1923 final was even\u00adtu\u00adally played, The Tribesmen won on a 7-3 to 4-5 sco\u00adreline, record\u00ading the first of their five All-Ire\u00adland vic\u00adtor\u00adies.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1923-All-Ireland-Hurling-Captains.jpg\")
Limerick captain Paddy McInerney and Galway captain Mick Kenny shake hands before the 1923 Hurling All-Ireland final. Pic: Courtesy of the GAA<\/p>\n
The other two final meet\u00adings between them and Lim\u00ader\u00adick were much less con\u00advuls\u00adive but were enorm\u00adously sig\u00adni\u00adfic\u00adant within sport\u00ading para\u00admet\u00aders. Gal\u00adway would wait 57 years for a second All-Ire\u00adland title, and it arrived on a fam\u00adous Septem\u00adber day in 1980 against a fan\u00adcied Treaty team.<\/p>\n
Lim\u00ader\u00adick were an exper\u00adi\u00adenced group, with a hand\u00adful of sur\u00adviv\u00adors from the side that had won the 1973 All-Ire\u00adland. But their status as favour\u00adites was also a res\u00adult of the record that clanked behind Gal\u00adway into that decider.<\/p>\n
They had lost nine finals since the win in 1923, the most recent com\u00ading in 1979. Before there was Mayo foot\u00adball as a sor\u00adrow\u00adful saga of want and unful\u00adfilled expect\u00ada\u00adtions, there was Gal\u00adway hurl\u00ading.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/045276.jpg\")
Bernie Forde of Galway in action against Dom Punch of Limerick during the 1980 All Ireland Hurling Final. Pic: Ray McManus\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
That is what made the break\u00adthrough on that soft day in early autumn so mem\u00ador\u00adable \u2014 that, and the tre\u00admend\u00adous scenes on the steps of the Hogan Stand. The Tribesmen were cap\u00adtained by the mighty Joe Con\u00adnolly, just 24 but asked to cap\u00adtain the side by Cyril Far\u00adrell, who was wowed by his lead\u00ader\u00adship.<\/p>\n
The rest of the coun\u00adtry and the wider world got a fair idea of what had impressed Far\u00adrell when Con\u00adnolly took the micro\u00adphone for his accept\u00adance speech. He delivered it almost entirely in Irish, his first lan\u00adguage, an emo\u00adtional ode to his county and the Gal\u00adway dia\u00adspora scattered across the world.<\/p>\n
In con\u00adclu\u00adsion, he declared, para\u00adphras\u00ading a fam\u00adous line delivered by Pope John Paul II on his visit to Ire\u00adland a year earlier, \u2018People of Gal\u00adway, we love you!\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"all](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Galway-5.jpg\")
Joe Connolly lifts the Cup after an emotional win in the 1980 decider. Pic: Ray McManus\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
The day con\u00adcluded on a note of almost per\u00adfect poignancy with the late Joe McDon\u00adagh, a mem\u00adber of the panel, deliv\u00ader\u00ading a verse of The West\u2019s Awake.<\/p>\n
Con\u00adnolly remains a remark\u00adable man, one of the out\u00adstand\u00ading fig\u00adures in GAA his\u00adtory, and his memor\u00adies of the day delivered 40 years on were almost as stir\u00adring as the events them\u00adselves. \u2018There was a bit of the risen people about it,\u2019 he told GAA.ie in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u2018I always think of Gal\u00adway in rela\u00adtion to that. The way that a people, who had been defeated dec\u00adade after dec\u00adade with extraordin\u00adary hard luck stor\u00adies through a lot of the 1940s and 1950s espe\u00adcially, that finally our day had come.<\/p>\n
\u2018It was com\u00adpletely about win\u00adning an All-Ire\u00adland and fin\u00adish\u00ading the fam\u00adine.\u2019 And the fam\u00adine was defin\u00adit\u00adively over: Gal\u00adway would con\u00adtest a fur\u00adther five finals in the 1980s, win\u00adning two more. They became one of the stor\u00adies of the dec\u00adade, not just in sport but in what they rep\u00adres\u00aden\u00adted in a coun\u00adtry riven by emig\u00adra\u00adtion.<\/p>\n
Gerry McIn\u00ader\u00adney would fam\u00adously return from work\u00ading in the US to star in Croke Park, wear\u00ading white boots that were like a state\u00adment from another galaxy. \u2018It still res\u00adon\u00adates, abso\u00adlutely, being of the west,\u2019 said Con\u00adnolly all those dec\u00adades on, \u2018basic\u00adally and utterly in what we\u2019re about.<\/p>\n
\u2018Being the men of the west, I think we are unique that we are the only county in Con\u00adnacht that can take on the oth\u00aders and I think it\u2019s a huge thing.\u2019<\/p>\n
They con\u00adtinue to carry the hurl\u00ading fire west of the Shan\u00adnon, and in 2017 they ended a 29-year wait with the county\u2019s fifth win. But a year later it was their turn to come out the wrong side of a decider laden with his\u00adtoric sig\u00adni\u00adfic\u00adance.<\/p>\n
The Connacht side were defend\u00ading their title, and it was Lim\u00ader\u00adick wad\u00ading through the tides of his\u00adtory.<\/p>\n
![\"Limerick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-2026-07-16T142417.873.jpg\")
Limerick against Galway during the 2018 GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final. Pic: Piaras \u00d3 M\u00eddheach\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
John Kiely was in his second sea\u00adson and the tim\u00ading of a driven man\u00adager, a bril\u00adliant coach in Paul Kin\u00adnerk and an uncom\u00admonly tal\u00aden\u00adted gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of play\u00aders com\u00ading together prom\u00adised to bear the richest fruit. <\/p>\n
And with three minutes remain\u00ading in that final, they looked good to deliver it. They led by eight points after sur\u00adviv\u00ading a scare at the start of the fourth quarter, and when Shane Dowl\u00ading<\/a> scored Lim\u00ader\u00adick\u2019s third goal in the 68th minute, the game looked done. Then came a rapid response from a des\u00adper\u00adate Gal\u00adway, with Conor Whelan get\u00adting their first goal of the match a minute into time added on. <\/p>\n After Nickie Quaid fouled the ball on the ground, Joe Can\u00adning stood over a free and des\u00adpite five Treaty men on the line, he whizzed the slio\u00adthar into the roof of the net from just out\u00adside the 20m line.<\/p>\n The gap was down to two as the clock ran into its 75th minute; eight addi\u00adtional minutes had been sig\u00adnalled. Niall Burke and Graeme Mul\u00adcahy swopped points before Can\u00adning landed a 65. <\/p>\n The umpire waved the flag and the clock read 78.08. There was time for one more play, and when des\u00adper\u00adate Lim\u00ader\u00adick defence gave up a foul just out\u00adside the 45, Can\u00adning addressed the ball. <\/p>\n He had a free to tie the game, but his shot from over 80 metres fell short of the tar\u00adget. Lim\u00ader\u00adick cleared the danger, the last whistle soun\u00added and it her\u00adal\u00added the start of an empire. <\/p>\n The county have won four since, that bril\u00adliant run of con\u00adsec\u00adut\u00adive vic\u00adtor\u00adies between 2020 and 2023. They couldn\u2019t man\u00adage hurl\u00ading\u2019s unat\u00adtain\u00adable dream of five on the trot, and they come to Croke Park on Sunday much nearer the end than the begin\u00adning. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/limerick1.jpg\")
Declan Hannon lifts the Liam McCarthy Cup. Pic: Stephen McCarthy\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n