Galway, though still with one fence left to clear before they can be put on the same pedestal as the heroes of the ’80s, have already answered every question pertaining to their hunger and desire to build on 2017, according to selector Francis Forde.

Level five times with Clare in the drawn game, as well as twice finding themselves in the Banner’s slipstream, the Tribesmen never blinked. It was the same story in the replay, holding their nerve when Clare cut the gap to the minimum on five occasions in the final quarter.

Even in the dead-rubber against Dublin back in June, a game where they trailed the Salthill visitors with six minutes remaining, David Burke and Jason Flynn mined the necessary scores to keep their unbeaten run intact.

If they didn’t have that real raw kind of hunger to get over the line, I don’t think I’d be here talking, it is as simple as that,” Forde says.

“The lads have set their own standards over the last couple of years, in terms of what they demand from one another. They have lived up to those standards. Number one when you go into our job, you want a team who will just fight for everything. Supporters will come to see a team that fights for everything.

“One of the first things we said was that we wanted a Galway team the supporters would be proud of. Galway has a team the supporters can be proud of. There is a great link, I feel, between the supporters in the crowd and the players. They showed that again the last day against Clare. They were just willing to do whatever it took. You can talk about tactics all you want, but if your spirit isn’t there or isn’t right, all the tactics in the world aren’t going to compensate for that and the more battles you come through as a group, the more that spirit and that bond within the group gets that little bit stronger.”

Not that he’d tell us anyway, but Forde is adamant he didn’t waver when Aron Shanagher struck for a goal to nudge Clare in front in the second period of extra-time in the drawn All-Ireland semi-final.

I wouldn’t have said that I ever doubted our lads, because you just feel you still have the lads on the pitch. I know a lot of our really top players were up in the stand at that stage, but we just felt these lads had been through a lot together and were going to give it everything.

"They did give it everything and found a way to get back into it. I wouldn’t say we ever doubted, but obviously semi-finals for the last number of years have been one-point games with Tipp. A break of the ball one way instead of the other means your season is over.

“The quality in the replay maybe wasn’t as good, but there was no lack of resilience, desire, or heart.”

Galway’s sole encounter with Limerick this year arrived on March 11 and while Limerick’s graph has soared since, Forde insists it is a game that is of far more use to Galway than studying their opponents’ championship footage.

“We can analyse all the other Limerick games from this year and we would have learned a fair bit, but in terms of individual battles, you learn more about a player by opposing them. There are learnings we can take from that game, for sure. Whoever comes through on Sunday will be worthy victors given the way this year has gone.”