Can Dublin storm the Salthill citadel again?
Every hurling venue in the country is habitually referred to as a 'fortress', often in stubborn ignorance of what the record books actually tell us.
Home venue has actually been a very weak predictor of outcomes in the Munster championship since 2018.
In the case of the Tipp-Clare fixture, for instance, the away team has won every encounter in the round robin era. Limerick have lost as many games at home as they have away from home, while Cork have only lost one more away from home than in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
But according to the statistics, the infamously windswept stadium on the Atlantic is the only 'fortress' worthy of the name in the senior hurling championship these days.
It should be said here that it's probably easier for the top tier hurling counties to establish a 'fortress' within the confines of the Leinster championship.
The invading armies tend to be rather easier to repel.
It's ironic that the Galway hurlers have such a decent record in Salthill given the venue is far removed from the county's hurling heartland and appears to be generally unloved.
"If you ask any former player, where should it [the county final] be on. It should be on in Kenny Park [in Athenry]. Not in the middle of Galway city, it has nothing to do with hurling... who wants to go in there?"
So said former Galway hurler Kevin Brady in a preview of last November's county final on the Maroon and White podcast. This is far from an uncommon viewpoint in south and east Galway.
But the evidence shows that the rest of Hurling Nation seems to enjoy the trek out to that pleasant seaside resort even less.
The singular set of challenges posed by the famous Salthill wind may well impact visiting teams more than it does the hosts, who should be well attuned to its particular forms by now.
In the pre-round robin era when Galway perennially complained about their provincial rivals' refusal to enter into a home and away arrangement with them, then Leinster Council chief - and future GAA President - John Horan suggested that the fact their home venue was so far west wasn't helping their cause, arguing they'd have been better advised to upgrade Ballinasloe instead.
Either way, they have home games now courtesy of the new structure - Galway were, in fact, one of the few elite hurling counties to unambiguously support the round robin proposal, precisely on that basis.
Whether it's the wind or the notorious traffic on the way in, the Leinster championship kingpins have had a particularly bad time out there.
The Salthill dimension was one missed in the build-up to the Galway-Kilkenny championship opener last month. Amid much confident talk of a Kilkenny backlash to their shockingly abject league defeat, it was overlooked that the Cats hardly ever win at Pearse Stadium in any case.
Not since the 2009 league, close to the peak of their dominance under Brian Cody, have Kilkenny won a competitive fixture on the west coast. (One caveat here is that the two counties were separated into different groups in the league in the early 2020s.)
Hearteningly for Dublin, it is they who are responsible for Galway's only loss on home turf in Leinster - achieved during Micheál Donoghue's two-year stint there.
The 2017 All-Ireland winning manager briefly became persona non grata with his old boys after his frantic lobbying for a red card to be shown to David Burke in the first half of the game.
Galway were reduced to 14 for the remainder of the game and Dublin won by six points to advance to the Leinster final and eliminate the westerners.
Ironically, despite the apparent bad feeling engendered, the result wound up hastening Donoghue's return to the hot-seat in his native county. Henry Shefflin inevitably departed in the aftermath of Galway's desultory effort in the 2024 campaign and a few months later, Donoghue was back.
It didn't take people long to connect the dots after his abrupt resignation from the Dublin manager's job in August 2024.
Galway-Dublin: A tit for tat affair
It's fitting that Dublin inflicted Galway's only Leinster SHC defeat in Salthill given they've often saved their best showing for this fixture.
Galway lost their first Leinster championship game against Dublin in Tullamore in 2011. It was a result which marked a low ebb for the westerners. That morning, Brendan Lynskey and Conor Hayes delivered an incredibly caustic verdict on that generation of Galway players in an interview with the Irish Independent.
Instead of provoking a response, it seemed to damage morale further. They scored 2-07 that evening.
The following summer, Galway were suddenly reborn, destroying Kilkenny in a landmark Leinster final which sent shockwaves around the hurling world.
In keeping with their bipolar reputation at the time, they tanked the following season. Amid the usual rumours of infighting, they were the all too pliable chaperones to Dublin hurling's greatest day for half a century in the 2013 Leinster final.
By then, Dublin had taken on the air of a bogey team for Galway - alongside Waterford. That changed in the 2015-18 period, when Galway won three of the four meetings between the teams.
Cathal Mannion buried a hat-trick inside the opening 20 minutes to set them on their way in the 2015 replay. Galway's run to the All-Ireland title in 2017 began with a hammering of Dublin in O'Connor Park.
The Dubs had regressed by the end of Ger Cunningham's three-year period in charge, with several beloved stalwarts of the Anthony Daly era opting out of the set-up altogether.
Under Donoghue's stewardship, by contrast, Galway were one of the ascendant teams in the land. But there was another gear change at the end of the decade. Despite not being broadcast on any platform, the 2019 meeting between the sides is one of the famous encounters between the teams.
The week before, Galway became the first team to beat Kilkenny in Nowlan Park in championship since the first inter-party government. Ahead of the final round, the only combination of results that could eliminate them was a loss to Dublin, alongside a draw between Wexford and Kilkenny in the simultaneous game.
Despite Joe Canning's final quarter introduction, a late goal from Chris Crummey saw the Dubs pull off an upset in Donnycarney. After the final whistle, the Galway backroom team gathered in a huddle in the dugout to watch the final minutes from Wexford Park. Almost inevitably, that game finished level, with word seemingly filtering around the ground in Wexford that a draw would see both into the provincial final, with the added sweetener that Galway would be taken out.
There has been a notable edge to some of the encounters.
There was the famous televised brawl in Fenway Park in 2015, the highlight of which was James Skehill sprinting 60 yards to deploy his own body as an exocet missile.
Last year's intermittantly violent and narky affair in Parnell Park was another example, the aftermath being dominated by talk of overly permissive refereeing.
Both Darach Fahy and Daithí Burke were lucky to escape sanction in the first half, in particular the goalkeeper for striking out when the ball was gone.
HT: DUB 1-07 GAL 0-10
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 25, 2025
Should both sides be down players? The panel think both sides should be a man down due to incidents in the first half that weren't penalised.
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Worst of all was Conor Donohoe's wild swing from behind at John Fleming's neck, which Donal Óg Cusack likened to "something out of the French revolution."
The recent reign of terror that Galway endured in games against Dublin in the capital drew to a close, the westerners winning the match far more handily than the five-point margin suggested.
"There's no doubt about it, Galway-Kilkenny in the Leinster final will be exciting," declared Marty at the finish, with sadly misplaced confidence.
There was little clue then that Dublin were about to pull off the shock of the decade a few weeks later.
The overwhelming likelihood is that Galway will get a chance to correct their recent record of mis-firing in Leinster finals.
Even if they do stumble this afternoon, they'll have a second chance to assure themselves of a provincial final against a limited Wexford side a week later.
The situation is far less serene and uncomplicated for the Dubs. Offaly's draw against Kilkenny may have ignited the interest of the neutrals but it was a result that Dublin could well have done without.
A defeat in Salthill and there is a strong probability that they will be facing into a do-or-die contest at home to Kilkenny next weekend - a team, who, whatever their current gremlins, have never failed to beat Dublin in the Leinster round robin.
It would make things considerably easier for Niall Ó Ceallacháin's side, and prevent a nervy finale, if they can pull off a rare set of back-to-back championship wins in the west.
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