Galway has always occupied a strange place in the hurling firmament.
As the only decent hurling county outside of Munster and Leinster, the sacred provincial structure was ill-equipped to accommodate them. The team reached semi-finals year on year, principally (well, solely, really) by virtue of the fact that they had to play no one to get there. They consistently fell to the Leinster and Munster champions at the first hurdle in August.
In the late 40s and early 50s, they had a decent side, winning the National League in 1951 and beating Kilkenny in the 1953 semi-final, but the major prize eluded them.
Max Mosley (yes, the Formula One boss, privacy campaigner and son of the English fascist leader) was stirred by the Galway hurlers during his time living in the county in the early 50s (see here).
Galway hurling's modern era began in 1975, when a team coached by a veteran of the 40s and 50s side Michael 'Inky' Flaherty won the League and beat Cork.
What Dublin hurling was to the early part of this decade, Galway was to the mid-1970s, a triumph of forward planning and the culmination of a concerted drive (commenced in Galway in the 1960s) to develop a greater hurling profile.
Today, Sean Moran, in a delightful article, has described Galway as 'modern hurling's greatest success story', in spite of their failure to land the big one in almost three decades.
Since, Galway last won the senior All-Ireland, among all other major national titles apart from the senior All-Ireland (U21, minor, League and club) Galway are tied with Kilkenny.
Minor:
Having not won a single minor All-Ireland title in one hundred years, Galway have won nine minor All-Ireland championships, despite only claiming their first in 1983. And they had to wait a further nine years for their second.
(1983, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011)
Only Kilkenny can match that achievement in the same period.
U21:
Galway have won more All-Ireland U21 titles since 1980 than any other county. The 1972 triumph at this grade was the first sign that the weather was about to break for their seniors later in the decade.
In all they have won 10 titles, lying one behind Cork and Kilkenny in the roll of honour.
(1972, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2005, 2007, 2011)
League
Since 1975, Galway have won the National league seven times, reaching the final on many other occasions.
(1974-75, 1986-87, 1988-89, 1995-96, 2000, 2004, 2010)
Club
This is the arena in which Galway towers above everyone else. Since 1992, Galway clubs have won 12 All-Ireland club titles compared to Kilkenny's four. What's more, six different clubs have contributed to this tally with Portumna and Athenry forming near dynasties, Sarsfields winning back-to-backs in 1993 and 1994 and Clarinbridge, Kiltormer and St. Thomas's chipping in with one each.
