By Eanna O’Reilly

GALWAY senior hurling manager Henry Shefflin is looking forward to Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick, and seeing his players test themselves against the most decorated team of recent years.

‘‘It’s a great opportunity for the lads, first and foremost, to represent Galway on this stage. We’re at the business end of the championship now, and these are the games you want to be involved in. Knockout hurling, in Croke Park with sixty odd thousand there. Yes, it’s a huge challenge, but as hurling people, these are the best challenges you can have,’’ he said.

‘‘We know how strong Limerick have been over the last few years. Any team that’s going for four All-Irelands in a row is an exceptional team. They scored 0-27 against us last year. They have players who can take their scores from all over the field, and they’re well capable of getting goals as well.’’

‘‘For us, it’s all about what we bring to the table on the day. It’s really important that we impose ourselves and how we want to play. We know they [Limerick] are going to have a purple patch at some stage, and it’s about how we react to that. It’s important that we stay strong when we’re under pressure and work our way out of any difficult spells.’’

The Galway boss was in no doubt about the management team’s greater familiarity with the players, compared to this time last year, when they also faced the Shannonsiders at the penultimate stage of the championship. The extent to which that benefits the team is, according to Shefflin, something that would only be revealed on Saturday.

‘‘There’s no doubt that we [the management] are much more familiar with the lads and we have more knowledge of them as players, and individuals. We’ve spent a lot of time in each other’s company this year, and I would say that the relationships between people are certainly stronger and the connection among the lads is stronger as well.’’

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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