Waterford boss Paraic Fanning is only in the hot-seat a few months, but after a 79 minute marathon, he's already looking forward to his first national final with the Deise.
"It certainly wasn't easy," he sighed, reflecting on a curious game against Galway that saw his team only take the lead in the 62nd minute, and, in the end, nine minutes of injury time had to be endured.
"It was heavy going. I didn't realise it went on that long.
"I knew we were doing well and we were in the game. I do think the lads put in a massive shift - and we had to.
"We'd to do one or two tweaks to our shape there to try to get over the line. But the lads implemented brilliantly out there just to get us through it and they emptied everything. They emptied all they had."
Fanning paid tribute to goalkeeper Stephen O'Keefe who, he acknowledged, kept Waterford in it in the first half as they trailed and he denied Kevin Hussey and Joe Canning in quick succession.
And he's pleased that the final will take place next Sunday in Croke Park, as part of a triple header.
"It’s not a bad place," Fanning smiled. "No issue with the venue, no.
"It’s a national final, a curtain-raiser to the football, camogie on before it - we’re delighted.
"We have a game next week against the best team in the country in Limerick.
"They’ve shown how well they’ve responded to winning the All-Ireland last year and we know we have a massive challenge.
"But isn’t it brilliant to be there? And we’re excited to be there."
Galway boss Micheal Donoghue acknowledged that his side blew it in the final half hour as their confident shot-making deserted them.
"Look, our intention was to obviously come and try and win the game, to get to a League final," he said.
"I was really happy with our application in the first half but felt our decision-making didn't help.
"We'll just move from it now and look forward, and prepare for the championship".
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