Kilkenny will play Limerick in this year's All-Ireland final, after a spirited comeback against Clare at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Cats went in at half-time five points up, and but a spirited comeback made it seem like Clare would avenge last season's defeat to Kilkenny at the same stage of the All-Ireland series.
Kilkenny rallied, however, and ultimately fought back to find themselves three points ahead in the closing stages. The effectiveness of their attacking play was evident during a ruthless second-half, but they were still reliant on some defensive brilliance to see out the game.
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They would hold on to their advantage by the skin of their teeth thanks to a jaw-dropping save from goalkeeper Eoin Murphy in injury time.
FT: Kilkenny 1-25 Clare 1-22
Eoin Murphy makes a crucial save at the death for Kilkenny.📺 Watch live - https://t.co/ZfZ9mA9XTY
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Murphy has been widely regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers in the game for some time now, and proved his worth once again with Kilkenny holding on to a three point lead late in the day on Sunday afternoon.
He now has the chance to add a fifth All-Ireland medal to his collection if Kilkenny can topple the mighty Limerick on July 23rd.
Murphy's first winners' medal as a starter came in 2014, after being part of the extended panel in 2011 and 2012. On this week's Irish Examiner Hurling Podcast, David Herity - the man who Murphy replaced between the sticks for the Cats - remembered how his brilliance shone through early in his career.
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Kilkenny GAA: David Herity remembers being dropped for Eoin Murphy
Eoin Murphy is enjoying his tenth successive season as Kilkenny's first-choice shot stopper, and could match the success of his predecessor David Herity with a fifth All-Ireland winners' medal this year.
28 June 2014; David Herity, left, Kilkenny, replaces the injured Eoin Murphy, during the game. Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, Semi-Final Replay, Kilkenny v Galway, O'Connor Park, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Picture credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE
When Murphy burst on to the scene in the early 2010s, Herity was comfortably Kilkenny's first-choice - but things would quickly change.
Speaking on Dalo's Hurling Show alongside Anthony Daly, TJ Ryan, and Mark Landers this week, Herity spoke about the emergence of Murphy in the Kilkenny camp around the 2012 semi-final - and a golden interaction with Brian Cody he wishes he could undo:
I had sleepless nights. I remember going to the GPA councellor...at the time, I was like, 'I'm doing everything I can do, but yer man is a freak.' We had to sit down and have a discussion about it.
We worked it out - 'you have more experience, David.' That helped me sleep at night, just to know that.
He can catch balls that are going two foot over the bar, he can ping out his puckouts, he can make these phenomenal saves, his first touch is off the charts - his hands are like sandpaper, if you ever shake hands with him. They're half bullets. Experience was the only thing I nearly had on the lad. He's a freak.
I was in goal in '11 and '12 - after the semi-final of '12, Lar Corbett landed me on my arse and Pa Burke scored a goal. The next training session, I was talking away to Brian [Cody] out on the field at training...I went out more early than usual, to see what Brian's reaction was - my mistake!
We had a chat and he just slips in, as he does, and says 'what's Eoin like up there?' I'd been training with him for two years, and I made the horrific, stupid thing, like when you're talking to the headmaster...I went, 'when Eoin goes in goal, no one will take the jersey off him.'
I should have said, 'Terrible, terrible! Very poor attitude! Loves Tipperary, Brian, absolutely loves them!'
That was the truth. Anything I could do, he'd soak it up and do it quicker.
Sadly for Herity, he was right. Once Eoin Murphy had wrestled the goalkeeper jersey from his grasp, it was not let go, with Herity's final appearance in the championship for the Cats coming during a brief injury lay-off for Murphy in 2014.
Murphy has solidified his reputation as one of hurling's finest keepers with his heroic displays ever since, and his save against Clare on Sunday is surely the best of the lot.
Against the might of Limerick's attacking power, Kilkenny will need him in top form come All-Ireland final day.
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