It’s your first ever inter-county appearance and you fire over the point that that sends your side through to an All-Ireland hurling final.
That was Shane Moloney’s contribution as Galway booked their place in the September showpiece after a one-point semi-final win over Tipperary at Croke Park on Sunday.
The Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry clubman, who came on as sub with less than five minutes to go, held his nerve deep in injury time to fashion Galway’s winning score. Indeed, it was a case of second-time lucky for Moloney as he explained to RTÉ Sport.
“Anthony (Cunningham), Eugene (Cloonan) and the boys trusted me to go in for the last five minutes. The first ball I got I snapped at it and it went wide. The second ball was a great pass across from Joe (Canning). Conor O'Brien slipped and thankfully it went over.
There was, however, still time for Tipp to get a levelling score, but Moloney was only too happy to see Galway centre-back Iarlaith Tannion get possession from the next attack.
“The puck out came and they won it. Iarlaith blocked it down and got the ball. When I knew Iarlaith had it I knew that was going to be it and then Barry Kelly blew the final whistle. It was some game, end-to-end stuff and thankfully we came out the right side of the result.
Looking ahead to the final, the Galway youngster added: “It's unbelievable to be there as it's where every player wants to be and after all the training that you do from the start of the year.
"For us it’s been a rollercoaster of a year."
Galway's star forward Joe Canning praised Moloney's contribution and he told RTÉ Sport: "Fair play to Shane in what was his first day out with the seniors. He's been around a good while, was a minor All-Ireland winning captain. He's a good lad and he's been flying this year and when he got his chance he took it.
"That's what we want from the subs. They are there to finish the game off for us and they did that today."
