Third semi final clash in three years and for the third time only a point would separate Galway and Tipperary for a place in the All Ireland hurling final.
But after Sunday's battle at Croke Park, it's Joe Canning whose name was evoked after coming up with an outstanding winning score to settle the contest in Galway's favour.
Ollie Canning and Tommy Dunne joined Off The Ball to analyse the action and Ollie touched on his brother, who gave an honest and insightful interview to Vincent Hogan.
"It was a very honest and open interview and to be quite frank, I found out stuff about Joe in that interview that I didn't even know - stuff that he'd gone through in the last couple of years," said Ollie Canning, before touching on how he didn't realise certain issues were having such an effect on his sibling.
"The illness to our parents, obviously it affected Joe in the way that he looked at his hurling. I mean, I wouldn't have said that maybe it did to that degree.
"When he said about the captaincy thing where his confidence is knocked, I didn't know that he had to ring the management - that he was left in limbo. You don't need that. You need some certainty in these things."
Adding that it was a "good interview", he also praised Joe for "having the courage" to take on that shot that ultimately morphed into the winning score.
Galway's Joe Canning with his parents Sean and Josephine ©INPHO/James Crombie
Canning also feels more focus should be put on the positives in analysis of individual performance rather than the negatives he feels is becoming increasingly prevalent on social media and elsewhere.
"I think we could give the county players a little bit more leeway," he said.
Canning also lavished praise on Gearoid McInerney who has emerged as a key man for Galway in this year's Championship.
"For me, he was the rock in the middle of that Galway defence," he said, adding that it's "years of work that has gone into this Galway team".
Overall, Tommy Dunne felt 2017 was always going to pose a challenge for Tipp.
"It was a difficult season. It was never going to be anything but a difficult season and some things happened outside of the control of management that you don't ever anticipate that you have to deal with such as the Cathal Barrett thing and a 16 point defeat in the league final," he said.
"But that's just hurling. That's just sport and you have to overcome these obstacles as you're going along and there aren't too many complaints in Tipperary really this week. The team gave a tremendous display but came a tiny bit short."
You can listen to the full interview on the podcast player or stream/download on iTunes:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
