Highlights of a dramatic match between Galway and Limerick in the All-Ireland hurling final.</s>Shane Dowling's late goal proved crucial for Limerick

All-Ireland SHC final: Limerick 3-16 Galway 2-18 Limerick scorers: G Mulcahy 1-2, K Hayes 0-4, T Morrissey 1-1, S Dowling 1-0, A Gillane 0-3, D Hannon 0-2, D Byrnes 0-1, C Lynch 0-1, D O'Donovan 0-1, S Flanagan 0-1 Galway scorers: J Canning 1-10, D Burke 0-3, J Cooney 0-3, C Whelan 1-0, P Mannion 0-1, N Burke 0-1

Limerick ended a 45-year wait to regain the Liam McCarthy Cup as they held-off a rousing Galway fight-back to score a dramatic one-point win at Croke Park.

John Kiely's young side held their nerve to clinch a 3-16 to 2-18 victory.

Goals by Graeme Mulcahy, Tom Morrissey and Shane Dowling appeared to have given Limerick an insurmountable lead.

But the Treatymen had to hold firm during eight minutes of injury time as Conor Whelan and Joe Canning both goaled to set up a nerve-shredding end.

Canning, who finished with 1-10, had a last-gasp free to level the match but his long-range effort fell agonisingly short and the Limerick defence smuggled the ball away to spark wild celebrations as they emulated their heroes of 1973.

Graeme Mulcahy's diving finish gave Limerick a lead that they never surrendered

Mulcahy's goal lays the platform

The build-up to the game had focused on Galway's greater experience as the Tribesmen went in search of back-to-back All-Ireland wins but it was Limerick that looked more composed during the opening exchanges as they dismantled their opponents' short puck-out strategy.

James Skehill's restarts were persistently disrupted by the hard-working Limerick forwards, who were rewarded with the opening three points of the game.

The holders responded well as team leaders Canning, David Burke and Joseph Cooney all combined to push them ahead before Mulcahy's goal gave the Treatymen a lead that they would not relinquish again.

The ball came loose in Galway territory through Seamus Flanagan's thundering hit on Padraig Mannion and Kyle Hayes flashed the ball in to Mulcahy who eventually managed to scramble the ball across the line at the third attempt.

The Tribesmen were shell-shocked and managed to score just once in the next 20 minutes as Limerick threatened to pull away with all of their scores coming from play in the opening half hour.

A flurry of points just before the break kept Galway hopes alive as they trailed by 1-10 to 0-9 despite being out played.

Tom Morrissey's goal spurred Limerick to their eighth All-Ireland title

Turnovers prove crucial

Micheal Donoghue's Galway side needed a fast start to the second-half but they once-again found the dashing young Limerick forwards too much of a handful.

The electric Hayes, just 20-years-old, scored two quick points to help his side into an eight-point lead as the final 20 minutes approached.

Canning stepped forward to land two crucial scores to keep Galway in contention but the Limerick forwards showed their ability to create scores with some ferocious tackling that led to a further two goals.

Morrissey showed admirable determination to steal possession from Gearoid McInerney and the wing-forward then kept his composure to evade the scrambling defenders and bat the sliotar, one-handed, into the net.

Once-again Galway responded through Canning and David Burke to get the gap down to five points before Limerick substitute Peter Casey brilliantly blocked an attempted clearance and worked the ball to Dowling to score.

Conor Whelan's goal sparked a late fight-back by Galway that came up just short

Heart-stopping finale

Although they were eight points adrift, Galway refused to surrender their title without a fight as they drove at the Limerick full-back line.

Whelan pounced on a loose ball to lash a powerful shot into the net before Treaty goalkeeper Nickie Quaid was penalised for handling the ball on the ground and Canning lashed the resulting free into the top corner.

Niall Burke's point further reduced the gap to the bare minimum before Mulcahy and Canning traded scores but the Galway talisman could not convert one final chance from inside his own half in the dying seconds as Limerick managed to stumble across the finish line.

Galway: J Skehill; A Tuohey, D Burke, J Hanbury; P Mannion, G McInerney, A Harte; J Coen, D Burke; J Cooney, J Canning, J Glynn; C Whelan, C Cooney, C Mannion

Replacements: F Flannery, P Killeen, S Loftus, S Linnane, R Burke, S Cooney, N Burke, T Monaghan, E Burke, J Flynn, B Glennon

Limerick: N Quaid; S Finn, M Casey, R English; D Byrnes, D Hannon, D Morrissey; D O'Donovan, C Lynch; G Hegarty, K Hayes, T Morrissey; A Gillane, S Flanagan, G Mulcahy

Replacements: B Hennessy, P Casey, T Condon, S Dowling, K Downes, S Hickey, R McCarthy, B Nash, W O'Donoghue, D Reidy, P Ryan</s>SUNDAY’S All Ireland Senior Hurling Final will be the 12th ever championship meeting between Limerick and Galway.

The August 19 decider will be repeat of the 1923 and 1980 finals - both won by the men in maroon.

Limerick have a history that includes seven titles, while Galway have five wins. Limerick have lost nine finals, while Galway have lost 19, including two this decade.

The 2018 showpiece will be the second time that Limerick have faced Galway as All Ireland champions – the 1981 semi final went to a replay before The Tribesmen prevailed.

While Limerick are bidding to win a first Liam MacCarthy Cup title since 1973, while Galway will be attempting to retrain the title like they did in 1987-88 under the stewardship of Cyril Farrell.

Of the previous meetings; Limerick have won six and Galway won four with a draw in ‘81

While John Kiely stresses that history has no bearing, Limerick are four championship games without a win over The Tribesmen - 1963 the last time the men in green defeated their maroon and white opponents in senior championship hurling.

The last clash championship tie between the counties was a 2005 All Ireland SHC Qualifier. Galway won that tie in the Gaelic Grounds 1-18 to 2-14.

LIMERICK 2005: Timmy Houlihan; Michael Clifford, Stephen Lucey, Mark Foley; Paudie O'Dwyer, Brian Geary, Peter Lawlor; Paul O'Grady, Donal O'Grady; Andrew O'Shaughnessy, Ollie Moran, Niall Moran; Donie Ryan, TJ Ryan, Patrick Kirby. Subs: Kevin Tobin for Michael Clifford, Patrick Tobin for Andrew O'Shaughnessy, James O'Brien for Kevin Tobin, Conor Fitzgerald for Niall Moran.

Sunday will be added to 1923 and 1980 as final meetings.

The ‘23 final wasn’t played until September 14, 1924 and Limerick were beaten 7-3 to 4-5.

Limerick beat Kerry, Cork and Tipperary to win the Munster SHC and then overcame Donegal in the semi final. The final, watched by approximately 7,000 in Croke Park, was Galway’s first title.

They had to wait until 1980 for their next title and again Limerick were the opponents.

Limerick beat Clare and Cork to win the Munster Championship and in doing so end The Rebel’s ambitions for a sixth successive provincial title. Limerick then progressed directly to the All Ireland final.

On September 7, 1980 there was an attendance of 64,895 in Croke Park to see the Connacht side emerge 2-15 to 3-9 winners.

While it’s 13 years since the counties met in championship fare, they did clash in Salthill this Spring when Limerick were best in a winner-takes-all promotion decider in Division 1B of the Allianz League.

Elsewhere the sides have met in three All Ireland U-21 championship semi finals this decade – teams that supply the majority of the current senior panels.

Galway were winners in the 2011 semi final, backed by Niall Burke, David Burke and Conor Cooney. In 2015 and 2017 Limerick got the better of their opponents enroute to All Ireland honours.</s>LIMERICK WILL HOST a homecoming celebration at the Gaelic Grounds today to welcome home the county’s All-Ireland hurling champions, who overcame Galway in a nail-biting clash at Croke Park yesterday.

John Kiely’s side ended a 45 year wait for the Liam MacCarthy Cup with a dramatic 3-16 to 2-18 victory – recording the county’s eighth All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and a first since 1973.

Thousands of supporters watched on from the Gaelic Grounds as Declan Hannon lifted the famous trophy, and the venue will play host to a homecoming party that will feature musical acts Beoga – fronted by Limerick woman Niamh Dunne – as well as The Blizzards and DJ Mark McCabe.

“Limerick City and County Council in association with Limerick GAA are inviting supporters to come and join the free family-friendly party at the homecoming in an expected capacity crowd in the Gaelic Grounds.

“The homecoming is a ticket-only event with free tickets available from Eventbrite.ie.”

The Liam MacCarthy Cup will arrive at 7pm, with gates opening at 4.30pm.

The statement added: “In the interests of health and safety the last admittance to the Gaelic Grounds for supporters will be 6.30pm.

“Liam McCarthy is due to make his first appearance in the Gaelic Grounds around 7pm as the victorious team is welcomed onto the stage to have a chat with RTÉ’s Marty Morrissey.”

Tickets can be downloaded for free here.

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Written by Aaron Gallagher and posted on the42.ie</s>Tension is mounting ahead of this year’s All-Ireland senior hurling final.

This afternoon Limerick will take on Galway in Croke Park for their first final clash since 1980.

Galway are the defending champions, while Limerick have not won since 1973.

The Tribesmen bid to retain their title for the first time since 1988 and they are bolstered by the return of Gearoid McInerney who starts at centre back.

Meanwhile, Limerick are unchanged to the side which saw off Cork in the semi-finals as they aim to lift the Liam McCarthy Cup for the first time in 45 years.

Limerick fans are looking forward to it.

One said: “You can really start to feel the buzz growing now that it’s getting closer.

“I think the Limerick team we have there now can go up against anybody.”

Another fan said: “I’m from Ballybrown and it’s very exciting at the moment and I remember 1973 when they won. The boys have been fantastic, fair play to them, we’re very proud of them.”

This supporter was hoping to get a ticket for the match.

He said: “I’m from Patrickswell, the buzz is great, you can’t be any more hurling than Patrickswell. I’m praying I’ll get a ticket.”</s>The Galway Minor and Senior Hurling teams are heading for Galway following yesterday’s games that saw the Minors win the All-Ireland title with a 0-21 to 0-14 win over Kilkenny while the Seniors were edged out by Limerick by a single point following a dramatic last ten minutes in Croke Park.

This morning before they left Sean Walsh spoke to Galway GAA Secretary John Hynes.

Galway Captain David Burke joined Sean to talk about yesterday’s Senior final and what is still to come this year

The Galway Minor hurlers are celebrating their third All-Ireland Minor Title in four years. Their manager Jeffrey Lynskey spoke to Ollie Turner</s>This crazy, beautiful game of ghosts. Late on Sunday afternoon in Croke Park and out on the field, Limerick were living their first minutes as All-Ireland hurling champions for the first time in 45 long years.

Dolores O’ Riordan, always Limerick royalty, was singing about dreams. 3-26 to 2-18. Just like that, the emerald green hurlers came screaming out of the 1970s.

Galway, who have just relinquished the title, gathered in a group on the pitch, a maroon tableau of disappointments and regrets. Already, the summer of 2018 had been stamped as the greatest hurling championship in living memory.

But for most of the afternoon, the final looked set to betray the epic nature of the season, with Limerick looking too sharp and quick for the tired champions. And then, just when Limerick supporters had begun to believe that the day would be blissfully and easily theirs – that their young team would stroll to the All-Ireland – everything changed.

The old game reminded the world of its mysterious power to transform fortune and future in an instance. So after a one-sided hour, during which Limerick established their superiority in every sector of the field and Séamus Dowling, their totemic substitute, finished the last of three opportunist goals, mischief flooded through the afternoon.

A goal from the blue from Galway’s Conor Whelan. A series of points from Joe Canning, suddenly wearing his assassin’s cloak. Then, a 20-metre free which Canning somehow spirits through a crowded goalmouth. Just like that, Limerick’s safe and handsome nine-point lead had been narrowed to just two. 74 minutes gone, four to go. Galway voices flooded the stadium. And for all of Limerick, a sudden plunge into a sickening place. They had been here before; victory prized away from them in the closing minutes of an All-Ireland final. 1994. Their haunted year.

Doubts and torments as Niall Burke sent another score for Galway floating through the muggy air. Just one point between them. Not so much hurling as torture. Some couldn’t look. Others couldn’t not.

Somehow Graeme Mulcahy, a wisp of a hurler who has witnessed some of Limericks’ loneliest afternoons, had the nerve to guide home a point on the run to steady Limerick hearts and nerves. Galway came with one last push and when Canning fired a 100-metre free into the air; into the 78th and last minute of the most extraordinary hurling summer imaginable, Ireland watched the ball.

“They were very calm,” John Kiely, the man who engineered this revival, said of his team. “They were calm all week.” But for those few seconds, bedlam reigned. Nobody wanted this beautiful season to end, until, seconds later, it had its fairytale close. The ball was grasped by Tom Condon, just on the field, another veteran from grimmer years. The whistle went. Oh, my dreams. The 131st All-Ireland hurling final had been won by a single point. Limerick, the county most in need of a championship, soar free.</s>LIMERICK have sensationally beaten Galway to win the All-Ireland hurling final at Croke Park, ending a 45-year wait to lift the Liam MacCarthy cup.

Roared on by an estimated 40,000 Limerick fans at Dublin's GAA HQ and thousands more at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick and people at home and abroad, John Kiely's men beat the reigning champions Galway, 3-16 to 2-18.

There was absolute pandemonium at the Gaelic Grounds, where thousands packed the pitch to watch the match on the big screen, as the final whistle went, and at Croke Park:</s>The words that every Limerick GAA supporter yearns to hear in Croke Park this Sunday.

Limerick play Galway this Sunday August 19 at 3.30 in Croke Park with referee James Owens (Wexford).

John Kiely and his troops go in search of a first All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship title in 45 years and they journey by train up to Dublin on Sunday with every chance of claiming Liam MacCarthy Cup success.

Champions Galway are favourites and rightly so with a 13 game unbeaten run in championship hurling over the last two years but Limerick have defied many odds in their seven game run to the final.

There is a culture of winning within this group, emerging from the Underage Academy, through county minor and U-21 teams and supplemented by successful club, college and university teams.

Galway are renowned fast starters and will have the edge on Limerick in terms of experience and therefore the men in green will look to find their feet early. But in 17 games throughout 2018 they have failed to produce a ‘performance’ just once and this level of consistency is just why they are ready, willing and able to end the famine.</s>LIMERICK are the All-Ireland hurling champions for the first time since 1973 in a nail-biting finale at Croke Park.

It finished Limerick 3-16 to Galway's 2-18 as the Treaty men held on in the dramatic final moments, much to the delight of the thousands of fans around the stadium, and many many more watching at home.

Limerick's 11 point lead in the last quarter of the game was threatened by the brilliance of Galway and Joe Canning in particular as they pulled it back to just five points in the last ten minutes of the game.

Canning had one last chance from long distance in the dying moments of the game to force a replay but it fell short and Limerick ever so gladly cleared their lines as the green half of Croke Park erupted in cheers of joy and relief.

As the final whistle blew, the smile on the face of Limerick manager John Kiely was enough to represent how much it means to the people of the county to bring the Liam McCarthy Cup home again for the first time in 45 years.

Speaking to RTE after the game, Kiely said: "Over the last 45 years we were second-class citizens when it came to hurling.

"We were always the bridesmaids - but today we got over the line. I'm just so happy for everyone in this stadium and at home in Limerick."
In hurling, Limerick defeat Galway in the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final at Croke Park to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the first time since 1973.