Source: Irish Independent

Micheál Donoghue laughs when he remembers how his best-laid plans nearly always went up in smoke any time his Galway side crossed swords with Tipperary.

“My initial memory of Galway and Tipp would be that you go into a game trying to have a game-plan, and trying not to let a really open game develop – and everything you’ve done in your preparation goes out the window once the match starts,” Donoghue says of their epic battles.

“The way the game opens and develops, both teams are always going for it. When the game starts, it just takes a life of its own, in terms of it’s nearly all-out attack. You attack, we attack, you attack, we attack – and that’s why you have the high scoring.

“That’s why you have the close proximity between the two of them. You go in with the mindset of trying to minimise space, and one or two things in your tactics – and then they just seem to go out the window every time you play them.

“We always looked back on it after, and said that everything we’ve talked about nearly hasn’t happened – and it was the same last year when they met, so it’s just about coming out on top.”

Donoghue was involved in four consecutive barn-burners between the neighbouring counties – from 2014 to ’17 – with a hand in both camps, having honed his craft under Tipp boss Eamon O’Shea for two years before taking the reins with Galway in ’16.

There has always been a “healthy rivalry” with places like Portumna a hotbed of slagging, given its proximity to the Tipp border. It was a tricky assignment when they met during Donoghue’s spell in the Premier background, as some “difficult” interaction with Galway folk arose while in enemy territory.

“It’s different. It’s the same with any management, and there’s lots of examples in both codes now, where you have lads going in with different counties and coming up against your own. It’s difficult. I suppose I didn’t know many of the lads that time,” the Clarinbridge native admits.

“I was only finding my trade but it was still hard, because you would’ve had interaction with supporters in the stand – and some would have taken kindly to it, and some wouldn’t have had. That part of it is difficult.”

Donoghue was on the right side when Tipp edged a seven-goal thriller in an enthralling 2014 All-Ireland qualifier meeting. A year later, Galway super sub Shane Moloney delivered the knockout blow in the dying seconds of the All-Ireland semi-final to exact revenge, as Séamus Callanan finished on the losing side, despite firing 3-9.

That was the first of three spellbinding All-Ireland semi-final clashes with just a solitary point between them each year. Tipp held the strong hand in ‘16 and won the final against Kilkenny to collect Liam MacCarthy, as Donoghue rued his luck.

Donoghue prayed it would be “third-time lucky” in 2017 and Joe Canning’s wonder point from underneath the Cusack Stand sent Croke Park wild, with that winning score going some way to ending their 29-year All-Ireland famine.

The last chance fell to John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer, though – and Donoghue didn’t count his chickens until the final whistle, as he knew what the Killenaule wizard could do.

“It was going down to the wire and everyone had their heart in their mouth, waiting to see who was going to get on possession and try and create an opportunity. That point from Joe was massive, it was a huge score and one of the most iconic points ever scored,” he says.

“On the next puck-out, when it breaks to Bubbles, and you see what opportunity I had when I was down there to see his talent and razor-like shooting – he’s just one of these fellas that only needs a glimpse of the post, and that was the first thing that came into my head. He was so well capable of hitting it over, so I was delighted to just see that chance tail off.”

Those unforgettable moments are a far cry from the first two weekends of league action, with hurling folk unhappy with how the game looks in 2021, with an outcry over rules ruining the spectacle this season.

However, if there’s one fixture to help hurling catch fire again, Galway versus Tipp on Saturday is it – and it may provide the acid test to decide where the small-ball game is at.

Recent history suggests another classic, with their last six championship meetings yielding 26 goals – including when they shared five in a brilliant All-Ireland quarter-final last November, despite talk of green flags being in rare supply in the modern game, as Galway edged 14-man Tipp.

Similarly, they shared six goals last March in the last round of league action before Covid-19 hit. And it is hoped that the great rivals spark the season into life, as Shane O’Neill and Tipp counterpart Liam Sheedy aim to maintain their momentum with unbeaten starts to 2021.

Donoghue expects normality – the chaotic clashes that have helped to shape hurling in the last decade – to return in Thurles’ theatre of dreams.

“When you’re involved with Tipp, they always love playing at home, and because it’s the third round, teams are getting settled into the league now– and I’d imagine this is a game that Liam and his management team would be targeting,” he says.

“Equally for Galway, everybody loves going to Thurles with the quality and the size of the pitch. It gives you an opportunity to play an expansive style of play, and that probably contributes massively to it.

“Galway are on a good run at the minute and playing with a lot of confidence, even the win last weekend. Likewise, Tipp would have taken a lot out of getting a result against Limerick in Limerick.

“Both teams are going into it in good form. Galway are looking really sharp and positive early on, and they’ll have taken a lot of confidence from last week. Here I am saying all this – but when the ball is thrown in, anything can happen.”

This hasn’t been the case in recent weeks, but everything and anything can happen when these two collide.