Galway were a team of heroes, but one man stood tallest

Everybody just take a breath and sit back from the edge of that seat.

It was the biggest stage of all, it was the biggest day of both Waterford and Galway players' lives and not one of them took a step back. The first half was pure, it was natural, free-flowing hurling that was perhaps best summed up by the statistic that there was only one free scored in the first half an hour of hurling. Galway were definitely the better team, definitely, but chillingly for them, despite their obvious ascendancy, they were only winning by one point. This was due to a combination of Waterford's clinical edge, and some silly, nervous mistakes from the Tribesmen. As the second half began, it looked as if they were set to pay for it. https://twitter.com/TheSundayGame/status/904356792594964480 Derek McGrath must have had some words of divine inspiration for the Déise boys at the interval, because they re-commenced the game like men possessed. Tadhg De Búrca was typically sweeping up everything before him, and Pauric Mahony was displaying his dead-eyed ruthlessness in front of goal, while Galway looked unsettled. The Tribesmen regrouped, they settled, they roared back into it. The introduction of Oranmore-Maree's Niall Burke was crucial in changing the flow of the game, as he notched two white flags moments after being brought on, and Jason Flynn was similarly effective when he was called upon. The road-running Tommy Ryan stemmed the flow, but it proved to be only for a moment, because Jason Flynn, Conor Cooney and Niall Burke were operating up top for Galway. Galway's dominance told, and their long 29-year Liam MacCarthy drought ended. The whole county is indebted to David Burke, their roaming midfielder who picked up ball after ball, who never missed a chance, who scored four beauties, who ran himself into the ground. He is a warrior, he is relentless, he is insatiable. He deserved this All-Ireland, Galway deserved this All-Ireland. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/904372950413037569 https://twitter.com/toniryan2008/status/904372265294364673 https://twitter.com/GAA_in_Ireland/status/904369064562364416 https://twitter.com/briangbarry/status/904369039077728256 https://twitter.com/mp_2_2/status/904369199602118656 h