Search Results for 'Jason Rabbitte'

There is an old saying that sport can be wonderfully uplifting one week and brutally unforgiving the next. Galway hurling experienced both ends of that spectrum in the space of a fortnight.

The second half of Galway’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tipperary last summer made for painful viewing. The eventual Liam MacCarthy champions swept aside the Tribesmen with an ease that was as alarming as it was sobering in front of a sea of Tipp support.

Galway 3-25 Kilkenny 1-16

Some sporting victories end when the final whistle blows. Others continue long after the players have left the field. They travel home on buses and trains, into pubs and kitchens, across streets decorated with flags and into the memories of those who witnessed them.

As days following the Galway hurlers go, last Saturday afternoon in Croke Park will take some beating. Long after the final whistle had sounded, a wave of maroon euphoria swept around GAA headquarters as a unique rendition of N17 echoed around the stadium.

I’m not going to pretend I foresaw Galway’s Leinster final performance coming because, ahead of Saturday evening’s showdown, I felt a degree of trepidation about facing an in-form Dublin outfit.

It’s mad in one way, and perhaps somewhat unfair in another, but the success of the Galway hurlers in 2026 and Micheál Donoghue’s second season boils down to 70 minutes this weekend in Croke Park.

It’s been 15 years since Galway last claimed an U-21 (now U-20) All-Ireland hurling crown — a drought that has long stuck in the craw of hurling aficionados throughout the county.

With the Galway senior footballers and hurlers both tasting defeat in their most recent championship outings, attention now turns to the defining stretch of the season — the period that will ultimately shape whether their campaigns are judged a success or a disappointment.

Not since their entry into the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 2009 have Galway looked better placed to claim the Bob O’Keeffe Cup. On paper, they now appear the strongest side in the competition and, with three consecutive wins behind them, they are well positioned to reach another provincial decider.