All-Ireland SHC Final Countdown : Galway's captain and goalkeeper tells Keith Duggan why this year's men in maroon are no one-trick ponies

The traditional excuse for semi-finals is that they are merely a passage, games to be won regardless of quality. But a fortnight after Galway and Kilkenny concocted the breathtaking game of the summer, a match that was instantly deemed a classic, thoughts inevitably turn to it even as the maroon county prepares for its second All-Ireland final of the century.

While fans love a shoot-out, for goalkeepers they are a nightmare, and Galway captain Liam Donoghue laughed when asked if he had seen four fly by before.

"I have. Any time I have played Kilkenny, I think. In fairness, it was a great game but when you are playing it you don't realise. You just concentrate on the next ball and we were so relieved to hear the final whistle. You don't really care if it is a classic or a boring nine-points-to-eight win. As long as you come out the right side of the result."

And that was the bottom line. Unlike the distant game of 1997, when Kilkenny staged a mesmerising second-half comeback to blow Galway out of the championship, or last year's ferocious display, when the Cats completely chewed Galway up in their first serious game of the summer, this time the Connacht county got the result. As they demonstrated against Tipperary, this is not a Galway team that is going to fold.

It is not as though there has been any miraculous change, Donoghue insists, but merely that the system is, at last, allowing Galway a decent run-in to serious championship fare.

"Last year, had we another game the following week before we met Kilkenny, you would have seen a different Galway team," he argues.

"I believe that. The new system has allowed us that opportunity. The players have stood up this year and we have leaders through the field. Coming off the Kilkenny game last year there was a lot of flak going around and if you had said we would have been in an All-Ireland final the year after, people would have said you were cracked.

"But we just trained really hard and, to be honest, I am delighted for that group of players and the management."

In the days after that mammoth semi-final victory, it became clear to the players that the match had engaged the Galway hurling public in a way that had not been apparent for a long time.

It was as though that 70 minutes created a power surge through the entire county. But at training on the Tuesday night, Donoghue and his defence had to sit down and untangle the huge score that Kilkenny posted against them. On almost any other day, it would have been enough to guarantee a handsome victory.

"Definitely, when you concede 4-18 you have to be looking at the defence and the goalie. We know we have to tighten up and we have analysed the match, and a lot of the goals, especially, came from our mistakes. And if we concede half that to Cork we will be beaten out the gate."

Thoughts of Cork come as a jolt because all across the field, as players engage visiting media and sign jerseys for the burgeoning fan club, talk drifts back to the semi-final rather than on to final. It is a situation that must suit the All-Ireland champions fine. Only four years ago, Galway produced a cracking All-Ireland semi-final display only to fall short against Tipperary. Semi-finals can be a treacherous gauge.

"Sure Galway know better than anyone," Donoghue says. "We have won some epic semi-finals in the past and we have failed then in the final. So we are under no illusions. We are up against the All-Ireland champions and we know we are going to have to play to the absolute maximum of our potential if we are to get a result."

But unlike previous years, even the grand era of the late 1980s, this Galway season has been different. All other final appearances have meant great and forceful performances summoned from a vacuum, with Galway training and training and just managing to hit that semi-final at a perfect pitch. This year, their improvement has been gradual and their belief easy to see. And the decision to allow Conor Hayes to remain in the hottest of all hurling posts has proven wise.

"Yeah, the continuity has made a huge difference. If a new manager had have come in, he would have put his own stamp on the team but Conor retained faith in most of the squad and hopefully we have paid him back. I think that, along with the new system, has been the difference.

"Last year we had a match against Down and then it was straight into it against Kilkenny. This year with the new system, you had the three championship games straight after the league, then we went back to the clubs and played three rounds and it was back to the county then. So we have had no long break and that has been great."

As it stands, Donoghue is 70 minutes away from being the first Galway man since Hayes to lift the MacCarthy Cup. It is not a task he has dwelt on, regarding the captaincy as a ceremonial honour rather than a duty.

"It is a great honour but to be honest, I don't take it that seriously. With guys like Ollie Canning and Liam Hodgins in the dressingroom, there is plenty of experience there and they do as much talking as I do. And every day someone else steps up to the plate.

"But the captaincy, I don't mind it. The toughest part of my job is going up for the toss."

After that, he believes, the task is simple. He knows Cork will be Cork. Galway are a different equation and Donoghue cannot predict what kind of performance they will give.

"What's a peak for a Galway team like? We will just do our best to hurl for 70 minutes and what more can we do?"