Following the Leinster Final defeat, Anthony Cunningham boldly gripped Brian Cody's hand and said he would see him in the All-Ireland final.
The last time the two men manned the sideline on All-Ireland final day was September 2012.
Galway's programme that year helped them. By dint of their surreal demolition of Kilkenny in the Leinster Final, they leap-frogged the quarter-final match in Thurles.
As any Galway follower will tell you, this was quite a blessing.
Galway have quite a poor record in Thurles generally, though their only championship wins at the ground this century were against Cork (2002, 2009) and so they may be all-right with the venue.
Neither of these were quarter-finals however.
Between 2002 and 2013, Galway appeared in eight All-Ireland quarter-finals. Despite this, the GAA have stubbornly insisted on scheduling the All-Ireland quarter-final on the Sunday before the Galway Races begin.
Of those eight quarter-finals, Galway lost seven. The 2006 quarter-final defeat to Kilkenny stands out in that it occurred eight days before the Races began. The other six fell the day before the festival began.
What of their only quarter-final victory in that time (2005)?
Well, one could regard it as significant that that game was played on the Sunday after the Races. It is the only time Galway have played a hurling quarter-final after the Races.
Clearly, if Galway are to succeed at the quarter-final stage, they have to lobby the GAA to push the quarter-final match back a week. Or, and this might easier, convince the Galway festival committee to push the Races forward.
Read more: The 10 Types Of GAA Fan You Will Definitely Find On The Internet
We are indebted to Paddy Aherne for alerting us to this strange fact.
