Sean Finn reveals Limerick’s two-pronged approach to All-Ireland final clash with Galway
Reacting to the victory on Monday morning, the six-time Celtic Cross winner described the feeling as “some relief” and “sweet”
LIMERICK were ready for Galway’s unique style of hurling as they cruised to an All-Ireland final success.
Sean Finn said that for the two-week gap between the semi-final and Sunday’s Liam MacCarthy Cup decider, the first half of preparation was focused on Micheál Donoghue’s men - but the run-in was fine-tuning their own game.
The preparation done by the stats team led by Sean O’Donnell was ear-marked by former Limerick defender Richie McCarthy ahead of the game while coach Paul Kinnerk’s game-plan was cited by John Kiely as a reason for Limerick being ready for Galway’s set-up.
Preparing for the challenge of the Leinster champions was just part of Limerick’s build up - the rest was making sure they were at their best: and they were.
“Ten days ago we gave a lot of respect to what the opposition could bring and placed an emphasis on what they typically do and the system they play by,” revealed Bruff defender Finn.
“Then last week was all about ourselves and imposing what we knew we could on the game. The reality is if we were able to get what we wanted onto the pitch then we would get the result we wanted and that was ultimately what happened.”
Reacting to the victory on Monday morning, the six-time Celtic Cross winner described the feeling as “some relief” and “sweet” as all the emotions were witnessed over a magical 24 hour period from the build up to the match to the enjoyment of the relaxed celebrations.
With Limerick fans in the capital in their thousands, being able to chill with those nearest and dearest another special moment in a magic weekend.
“The beauty of this morning and getting up here is we are surrounded by family and friends,” he said speaking from the Clayton Burlington Hotel.
“For them to be able to enjoy it with us today and this morning in particular is really special.”
Finn added that despite the one-sided nature of the final, it wasn’t until close to the final whistle that he was able to take that the cup was returning Shannonside.
“When you’re on the pitch you expect the worst, when it got to 70 minutes perhaps you knew it was over but the game can change so quickly,” he said.
“If you’re sitting in the stand or watching on TV you might think differently but when you’re playing you just want to keep going and you don’t want to make any mistakes, you want to keep on edge but in reality it was probably over with a couple of minutes to go - maybe we could have enjoyed those couple of minutes more.”
After missing the 2023 final it was a glorious return to the sport’s biggest day for the Bruff man. His personal legacy - and that of this incredible Limerick team - secured with this bounce-back success after the disappointment of bowing out last year at the quarter-final stage.
While showing no signs of letting up, Finn and his teammates were keen to soak in and enjoy this success - 2027 will be here before they know it.