Galway and Limerick have met in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship on nine occasions with two of them being finals in 1923 and 1980. However, when the sides first met it was in the depths of winter as they played the 1911 All-Ireland Semi-Final on the 3rd of December. A game that Limerick won by 8-1 to 2-0.
This is the article from the Freeman's Journal from the 5th of December 1911
The teams would meet again in 1921, again in the Semi-Final and again Limerick came out of the game victorious, winning by 6-0 to 2-2 but Galway would get their revenge in 1923 winning the All-Ireland Final by 7-3 to 4-5 in front of 7,000 people at Croke Park on the 14th of September 1924. The team was captained by Mick Kenny with Leonard McGrath scoring a hat trick of goals.
This report from the Connacht Tribune dated September 20th 1924
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Galway and Limerick would meet again at the Semi-Final stage in 1934 and 1940 but would be beaten in both games and it would be forty years before they would meet again. This time on a famous September day in 1980 when Liam McCarthy would come back across the shannon for the first time since their win in the 1923 All-Ireland Hurling Final.
The match programme from the 1980 All-Ireland Hurling Final
The Highlights from the 1980 All-Ireland Hurling Final from GAA.ie
Galway came back in 1981 to defend their crown but were made earn it the hard way with a replay win over Limerick. The first game finished 1-8 t0 0-11 with the Galway goal coming from Brendan Lynskey.
The teams would meet again in the replay on August 16th in what was arguably Joe Connolly's best ever game in a Galway jersey as he scored 2-7 in Galway's 4-16 to 2-17 win.
The 1981 Semi-Final replay as covered by the Connacht Tribune
The last times the teams met in the championship was in 2005 when Galway beat Limerick by a point in the Qualifers Section. Ger Farragher scoring 0-8 as Galway won 1-18 to 2-14.
Galway's record against Limerick in the championship
Played 9
Won 4
Drew 1
Lost 4
Scored 21-71
Conceded 32-67
