Galway need to come out on top in Sunday's Leinster Hurling final if they are to have realistic ambitions of contending for the All-Ireland according to Brendan Cummins.
Henry Shefflin's side were runners-up to defending champions Kilkenny in last year's provincial decider which was somewhat overshadowed by the post-match handshake between the Galway manager and his former Cats boss Brian Cody.
Fast forward a year and the two teams meet again, this time with Derek Lyng now in charge of Kilkenny, and ex-Tipperary goalkeeper Cummins believes Sunday at Croke Park is a "must-win" for Galway with an eye to their longer-term ambitions.
"It probably means more to Galway, I think, to get silverware," he told the RTÉ GAA Podcast.
"My feeling on Galway always was if they won Leinster and got silverware, that would give them serious momentum.
"It would give them a huge fillip of confidence that they can actually do something rather than get beaten again in a Leinster final, going through the back door and eventually somebody taking you out again - a gallant loser kind of a story."
Cummins believes Conor Cooney will need to step up to give Galway as big a chance as possible.
"For Galway to win, I do think Conor Cooney is going to be a huge key to it," he said.
"He hasn't really found the form we saw when they won the Leinster final against Wexford three or four years ago now, where he was inside full-forward, catching the ball, spinning around, hitting it over his shoulder, hitting all the frees over the bar.
"He really does look a bit of a shadow of himself. But I know it's in him to come back and maybe the weekend will be it.
"But if Henry is to go anywhere, it's his kind of leadership that is going to be required to get over Kilkenny.
"It's a huge, huge game for Galway and it's a must-win really for them if they are going to progress and be serious All-Ireland contenders."
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