The hurling championship glances at its watch, doleful but hopeful, like an edgy disco crowd waiting to see if the DJ can find just one banger before the lights go up. Seventy minutes to soothe the fevered brow of a season that has never seemed happy in itself, of a sport going through a twitchy, moody summer. Badly in need of a final where it can lose itself in the music.For so much of the 2026 championship, it has felt like the hurling world was ill at ease, getting on its own last nerve. Constantly stressing about its place in the scheme of things, fretting over a mediocre Leinster championship, even (gasp) underwhelmed by some of the fare in Munster. Sneaking covetous looks over its shoulder at the football fun palace, not entirely sure how to feel about it, now that there’s nothing to pity.[ Ciarán Murphy: Shock wins would be an incredible shot in the arm for hurling - but is that what we want?Opens in new window ]In the middle of it all, when the Hurling Advisory Committee sent out a survey last month looking for views on how hurling might be improved, a quietly notable thing happened. Virtually nobody complained. There was the odd leave-it-be voice here and there but they stood out for being on their lonesome. There was no mass dismissal of the idea, no thunderous whishting of the suggestion that hurling might benefit from some nipping and tucking.Imagine that a decade ago. Or five years ago. Or even just last summer, when the Munster final went to penalties, having long since passed that mystical, smoky place where your ears are ringing and your heart is doing the lambada and you have to remind your eyes to blink occasionally. How many times has hurling brought us back there during this championship? If you have to think about it, you probably have your answer.[ Denis Walsh: Hurling’s ecosystem is fragile - the sport can’t afford another year like thisOpens in new window ]Outside the two finalists, everybody is cranky. Maybe that’s the case every year to some extent but it all feels a bit more pointed in 2026. Cork are picking through the bones of another collapse. Clare are losing heroes and wondering what’s next. Tipp made another bags of an All-Ireland defence, Waterford and Dublin hit their ceilings with a bang. Kilkenny and Wexford are starting over, again. Offaly? Okay, Offaly will feel it was a decent year. Still got scutched by 26 points, all the same.[ Henry Shefflin faces uphill task in Kilkenny with need to both improve and innovateOpens in new window ]But even on a macro level, there’s a sense that all is not quite right. The crowds are generally holding up but a lot of that has to do with Cork’s incredible following. The Cork support is hurling’s equivalent of the pumped-up tax take from the multinationals – we’re all delighted to have it but we can’t know how permanent it is. What happens if (when?) they decide to move on?Beyond all that, there have been rows about TV coverage, moaning about GAA+, endless griping over the calendar. Three hurling matches after the summer solstice, the showpiece game of the year fighting for air this weekend against the World Cup final and the British Open. Whatever side you’re on in any of those debates, the mood music is unavoidable. Hurling does a lot of talking about things that aren’t hurling. Galway's Ronan Glennon and Shane Morgan celebrate winning the match. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho And so a nation turns its lonely eyes to Croke Park for Limerick versus Galway. An All-Ireland hurling final for the commoners, not a blue blood in sight. Of the 137 deciders there have been since the dawn of time, 116 featured at least one of Cork, Kilkenny or Tipperary. When none of that trio is around for the last day of the season, this is the most frequent final pairing.There’s still a glorious novelty to that. For all of Limerick’s supremacy under John Kiely, history is buried deep enough in the bones of their people to know that empires strike back eventually. The big three built those empires by mopping up precisely this kind of All-Ireland final, throttling an upstart team before it gets notions about itself. Limerick were on the other side of that deal enough times to avoid overconfidence here.Limerick's manager John Kiely and Diarmaid Byrnes. Limerick are unlikely to get overconfident. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho [ Cian Lynch to start for Limerick as teams for All-Ireland hurling final announcedOpens in new window ]Fifteen of the Limerick panel are trying to win their sixth All-Ireland medal, moving them into position beside the gods of the game. Will all 15 be back in 2027? Will Kiely and Paul Kinnerk and Caroline Currid? For the first time, Kiely has picked a final line-up with more players who’ve passed their 30th birthday than are waiting on it. There’s a bang of the 2023 Dublin footballers off them, driven to purge a couple of careless seasons.[ Nicky English’s player-by-player guide to Limerick’s starting team for the All-Ireland finalOpens in new window ]For Galway, the easy option is to call this one a free hit. Nobody expected an All-Ireland run from them and whatever happens, they’ll end 2026 in credit. Leinster champions, a landmark win over genuine contenders in Cork, all done while overhauling the playing style and finding enough exciting young talent to hint at more good things into the future. A foundational year, any way you look at it.Galway's Conor Whelan with Galway manager Micheál Donoghue. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho [ Joe Canning’s player-by-player guide to Galway’s starting team for the All-Ireland finalOpens in new window ]But nobody knows better than Micheál Donoghue how fleeting sport can be. At this stage in 2018, his first Galway team was within a score of back-to-back All-Irelands. He lasted just four more championship matches in the job, stepping down after they didn’t make it out of Leinster the following summer.There’s no such thing as a free hit, is the point. Galway are in the final while everybody else watches from a distance, grouching and grumbling and wishing it was them. If Donoghue has changed one thing about the Galway hurlers, it’s that they can generally be relied upon to turn up now. They’re awkward to play against, a dose to try and break down, coltish and brave in their attacking intent. We presume they will give Limerick their fill of it. A bitty, unfulfilling championship will thank them if they do.