It's been a long eight years for Joe Rabbitte after his breakthrough year in '93 when the partnership with Joe Cooney at the heart of the attack took the county to the brink of an All-Ireland title.
His tall, gangly frame with its capacious paw became a focal point for Galway attacks, whether he was being played as a skilled physical presence at full forward and centre forward or an out-and-out target man for puck-outs on the wing.
Last year he was awarded an All Star but the years in between were frequently depressing. As Galway struggled with a succession of managers and a variety of hopeful new players, the gap between the county and hurling's elite seemed to grow although there was only one humiliating defeat over that period.
Rabbitte struggled with his form in the mid-1990s but 1997 brought a nadir when in the Connacht final, Roscommon full back Padraig Feeney pulled wildly across Rabbitte's head and an ambulance had to enter the playing field to carry him to hospital where he was treated for a fractured skull and loss of 30 per cent hearing in one ear.
"The low point was in '97 when I got the belt on the head," he says. "I was told by the doctors it would be better not to play again if I could. But the love of the game was still there and also the bunch of lads we had at the time in Athenry made up my mind. I came back in a county semi-final. Once you play one game, you're back in the swing of it."
Athenry's extraordinary achievements have been a palliative amidst all the suffering at county level. "Club success kept me going. With a club like Athenry, you're winning for a number of years and doing the heavy training with Pat Nally in February and March. That helps to keep yourself going for another season."
His attitude to last month's win over Kilkenny is coloured by the same county's defeat of Galway a year previously.
"Twelve months ago Kilkenny beat us. Even looking at the All-Ireland final last year, we knew we'd let it slip. But when I was leaving the field after beating them, Noel Lane came up to me and said: 'Well done Rabbitte but we'll need another 20 per cent'."
Opponents Tipperary are familiar to Rabbitte. Whereas there mightn't be the same rivalry that existed between the counties over a decade ago, they have met often enough in recent times. This will be the seventh big-match meeting between the teams in eight years.
Rabbitte has some good memories, scoring the vital goal in the 1996 NHL final and making a decisive contribution to last year's defeat of the same opposition in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Better still, he missed last April's League humiliation in Ennis, as the Athenry players were only back from another successful campaign.
One of them is Rabbitte's attacking colleague Eugene Cloonan whose formidable scoring feats have left him with a championship average (albeit over only two matches) of 2-10. To help create space for his club mate, Rabbitte was deployed in the full-forward line rather than in the half forwards.
"I went in full forward the last day because it suited. It mightn't the next. I might be out on the half forward line again. My understanding with Eugene is based on the last few years. I've been watching him coming through and I've said it for a while, he's able to get onto ball and able to make scores where there's no scores. It's easy to understand a lad like that."
Joe Rabbitte
Age: 30
Club: Athenry
Height: 6ft 4in
Weight: 14st
Occupation: Salesman
Honours: All-Ireland U-21 HC 1991, All-Ireland club SHC 1997, 2000 and 2001, NHL 1996 and 2000. All Stars 1993 and 2000.
