Conor Whelan feels that Limerick will "shade" this year's All-Ireland hurling final against Kilkenny on Sunday.
The Galway hurler was on the losing side against both finalists this year, falling to Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final and to Kilkenny in the Leinster decider.
Galway led Limerick by six points at one stage in the first half of their semi-final, but the three-in-a-row All-Ireland champions overpowered the Tribesmen in the second half to win by 10.
8 July 2023; Conor Whelan of Galway is tackled by Dan Morrissey of Limerick during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Limerick and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
"We went in at half time in a decent position, we felt we could have been in a better position," said Whelan, the PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for June in hurling.
"We went out in the second half feeling confident but we lost some momentum and Limerick got a run on us.
"Limerick are an absolutely outstanding team, massive credit to them on the day and it's something we'll spend the winter coming to terms with.
"When you play any team and they get a run on ye it is a very difficult thing to wrestle back. Their record speaks for itself, they are going for a four in a row and a lot of teams have struggled against them. On the day we didn't go down for lack of effort.
"From our perspective, we are going through a period of transition, lads like Johnny Coen and Aidan Harte have moved on but we have young lads coming through. Days like that against Limerick are harsh lessons; they are the standard bearers at the moment and the rest of us are the chasing pack."
Whelan scored two points in the first half against Limerick and added another early in the second half but that was his penultimate touch of the ball. His last came in injury time.
"That's the life of an inside forward," said Whelan.
"There were different periods in games all year where you went through periods without getting a ball. You're moving, trying to adapt and decide will you come out.
"They are all things that we tried the last day but massive credit to Limerick, they were able to shut us down and shut the supply lines down. That's just part and parcel of the game.
"I'll be looking back at that in pre-season and trying to see if there's anything I could have done differently and anything we as a team could have done differently. On the day, Limerick just built up steam and we couldn't stop them."
17 July 2022; Kyle Hayes of Limerick is tackled by Adrian Mullen of Kilkenny during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Kilkenny and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Whelan feels the final will be a "fascinating battle".
"Kilkenny are massively physical, they have TJ [Reid], Eoin Cody and Martin Keoghan up front," he said.
"TJ is an amazing hurler, he nails all his frees and Cody is in the form of his life. You have other forwards who work really hard. Defensively, you're not getting much off them, so strong and physical.
"Limerick have players that can step up every day. They are very measured in everything they do.
"I was at the final last year and it was one of them games: it was tit-for-tat. That's how I see it playing out again on Sunday.
"It's hard not to edge towards Limerick considering they have the three-in-a-row done and the way they came through Munster. You'd be very foolish to be writing the Cats off. I think it will be a very, very tight game, maybe Limerick to shade it but it will be fine margins."
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