Limerick have booked their place in the All-Ireland final, but they did not find this afternoon's semi-final against Galway as comfortable as many would have expected.
It was a pulsating contest throughout, with John Kiely's side ultimately running out as three-point winners. That was largely down to the Munster champions being more composed in front of goal in the latter stages, with their opponents hitting a number of disappointing wides.
However, some will feel that Henry Shefflin's team were not helped by the referee Thomas Walsh.
Refereeing questioned in Limerick vs Galway
It seemed that the majority of the 50/50 decision in the game went Limerick's way, especially after the interval.
Speaking on The Sunday Game, former Limerick star Shane Dowling admitted his native county were probably a bit fortunate with some of the decisions that went their way.
You must give huge credit to Galway.
Henry [Shefflin] and the Galway players didn't come up here to get a moral victory. They wanted to win the game and will be absolutely disgusted. It was there for them to win.
If I was a Galway man I probably would be a bit upset with the referee. Limerick probably got the marginal calls today.
But look, it was a semi-final, Limerick won it and they're gone into the final.
One incident where Galway may have felt aggrieved involved Kyle Hayes late on.
The Limerick man looked to stamp down on Galway's Tom Monaghan while he was on the ground, although you could certainly argue that it was unintentional.
Kyle Hayes could have easily avoided stamping on Tom Monaghan. Monaghan grabbed Hayes knee when he was on the ground in a vulnerable position. @TheSundayGame #gaa #sundaygame pic.twitter.com/cpjV77ddAQ
— Adrian Heneghan (@AdrianHeneghan1) July 3, 2022
He was not punished for the incident. Liam Sheedy believed that was the right decision, while Micheál Donoghue said it was difficult to tell from by looking at the footage if it was intentional.
Sheedy: When I looked at it here initially, there are a lot of bodies so people are wrestling to try and get possession. Bodies are coming in, getting thrown down, hurleys are on the ground.
Kyle looks to put his foot down but I didn't see anything in it myself. He did rub of Tom Monaghan and make contact, but I think the main contact it onto the ground...
He was looking to find his footing, so I think he did acknowledge that he hit off him. He did make contact, but I don't think there was anything malicious in it...
Donoghue: It's hard to know. James Owen got infatuated about the pickup and missed the incident right in front of him. The officiation throughout the second half for Galway, he didn't do us a lot of favours in a lot incidents earlier as well.
It's hard to know. When you're looking at these incidents, when you see it in real time that's your first instinact on whether it was intentional or not...
Sheedy: I think there were some marginal calls. When you're looking back at it as a manager you think 'how did the marginal calls go'.
I'd say most of the marginal calls, especially in the second half, went Limerick's way. But I didn't think this was a marginal call. It was a genuine attempt to get his feet to the ground I think.
Limerick's experience told on the day, especially in the closing stages. Whereas Galway continually attempted to launch hopeful balls towards the opposition goal, the All-Ireland champions showed more patience in working better scoring opportunities. That made all the difference as they reeled off a number of unanswered points at the end.
They will now face Kilkenny in the final, reacquainting themselves with a team who pulled off an upset by defeating them in the semi-final back in 2019.
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