13 hours ago
Is Tipperary-Galway the most undervalued rivalry in the GAA?
The Tipperary-Galway rivalry may have reached its zenith in the late '80s, but it's arguably never been as wholesome as it is now.
Granted, the hostility that existed between the rival managements, players and supporters in that 1987-91 period, all of which drained away in time, added a kick which sweetened the dish, but what has broken out since has made for one of the most balanced, and arguably most undervalued, rivalry in the GAA.
Tipperary finished Galway's greatest team with a runaway victory in the 1991 All-Ireland semi-final, but in the 12 Championship games that they have played since, they have been separated by three points or less on 11 occasions.
The exception was a qualifier tie in 2014 in which Tipp outscored Galway by 2-10 to 0-1 in the last 20 minutes to win by nine in the end, but they were still in deep trouble early in the second half.
The result saved Eamon O'Shea from a swift exit as Tipperary manager. Micheál Donoghue was part of his coaching set up at the time. Now it's the opposite, with Donoghue in his second spell managing Galway and O'Shea having been retained from Henry Shefflin's outgoing regime last year, with his son Donal also on the panel.
Such cross-pollination between the two counties would have been unthinkable 35 years ago.
After the 1993 All-Ireland semi-final, won by Galway more comfortably than the two-point margin suggested, there was a seven-year gap to their next Championship meeting and the links to the '80s had been all but severed.
Back doors and changing systems have allowed them to meet more often and earlier in the Championship, with Saturday's All-Ireland quarter-final their 12th meeting in all since 2000.
Of the previous 11, Galway have won six and Tipperary five.
Five of them have been decided by just a single point. Three of those were in successive classic All-Ireland semi-finals from 2015-17.
Tipperary have won four All-Irelands in this century compared to just one for Galway, who have so often flattered to deceive, but they always seem to turn up against the only one of the three traditional powers with which they share a county boundary.
Tipp won 14 of their first 15 Championship meetings between 1888 and 1971, but this fixture will never see dominance like that again.
Perhaps neither are frontline All-Ireland contenders right now, but it's one of the few GAA rivalries that as good as guarantees a closely-fought contest every time. And Saturday evening should be no different.
