1 Darach Fahy (Ardrahan)Made two brilliant saves on Gearóid Hegarty in the opening minutes when Limerick cut them open. Puck-outs, though, were always going to be a challenge. When Fahy went long, Limerick mopped up most of them and when Galway went short, they ran into murderous traffic. Rating: 62 Joshua Ryan (Clarinbridge)Joshua Ryan struggled on Limerick's Peter Casey. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Having blotted out Alan Connolly in the semi-final, Ryan couldn’t get a grip on Peter Casey, who scored four points and made two others. Got forward late in the game when Galway were reduced to 14 men and was fouled for their injury-time penalty. Rating: 53 Cillian Trayers (Turloughmore)Suffered against Aaron Gillane in the first half especially, when the Limerick man returned to his league final form; Gillane finished the game with four points. Trayers has enjoyed a breakthrough season and improved in the second half. Rating: 64 Darren Morrissey (Sarsfields)Tagged Aidan O’Connor, who made very little impression in the first half and scored just two points from play in total. Limerick’s dominance of the middle third, though, made it extremely difficult for the Galway defence. Morrissey’s resistance was admirable. Rating: 65 Padraic Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)Galway's Padraic Mannion in action against Limerick's Aidan O'Connor. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho A huge player for Galway over many years, Mannion failed to get his hands on the ball enough to make use of his brilliant passing. Couldn’t keep up with Cathal O’Neill, who produced his best performance of season and racked up 1-3. Limerick shut him down. Rating: 56 Daithí Burke (Turloughmore)Showed none of the ill-effects of the knee injury that had clearly hampered him in the All-Ireland semi-final, and generally did well in his duel with Shane O’Brien, who failed to score and was replaced midway through the second half. Drove forward in the closing stages. Rating: 77 Ronan Glennon (Mullagh)Sent off in 56th minute for what was deemed to be a head-high tackle on Peter Casey. His long-range shooting had been a consistent source of scores this summer, but he only managed one shot here that went wide. Couldn’t contain Gearóid Hegarty either. Rating: 58 Tiernan Killeen (Loughrea)Was fouled for two of Aaron Niland’s frees in the first half but was part of a Galway centrefield that was over-run. Has taken a few years to nail down a place and was excellent in the semi-final, but was swamped here. Replaced after an hour. Rating: 59 Gavin Lee (Clarinbridge)Was given the unenviable task of tagging Cian Lynch on a day when the Patrickswell man was effectively unmarkable. Galway needed outside scores, but he could only manage one shot, which he missed. The first Galway player taken off 12 minutes into the second half. Rating: 510 Tom Monahgan (Craughwell)Had come into the game as Galway’s outstanding player of the championship but couldn’t find the space to play here. Managed two points early in the second half but was taken off after Galway went down to 14 men. Rating: 611 Cathal Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)Has been Galway’s playmaker this season but was basically snuffed out. Scored just once from three shots and, like all of the Galway players in the middle third, he couldn’t get enough possession to make any mark on the play. Rating: 512 Darragh Neary (Castlegar)Limerick did a brilliant job of shutting down Galway’s running lanes, which made life difficult for Neary especially. Was hooked early in the second half when Galway created a rare goal chance but arguably scored the point of the game after a 70-metre surge late on. Rating: 6Galway's Conor Whelan endured a disappointing end to a strong season. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho 13 Conor Whelan (Kinvara) 4/10If Galway were going to win, Whelan was one of the players that needed to deliver in spades, and that didn’t happen. Only managed two shots, both of which went wide. A disappointing end to a good campaign. Rating: 414 Jason Rabbitte (Athenry) 7/10Still the Young Hurler of the Year. Was fouled for Aaron Niland’s first three frees, and Limerick were forced to move Mike Casey off him after the veteran full back picked up an early booking. Scored a brilliant point from under the Hogan Stand. Rating: 715 Aaron Niland (Clarinbridge)Niland scored seven of Galway’s eight first-half points and he missed just once from 11 attempts on goal. Showed the kind of big game temperament that will make him a big star of the future. Taken off when Galway went down to 14 men. Rating: 6SubstitutesGalway emptied the bench in the second half, but it was in a lost cause. Colm Molloy scored a late point, Conor Cooney executed an injury-time penalty with authority, and Cian Daniels got his hands on a good bit of ball, but nobody made a difference. Rating: 5ManagementThere was nothing more that Micheál Donoghue and his management team could have done. Getting this Galway team to an All-Ireland final had been a terrific achievement. On the day, they were outclassed by one of the greatest teams of all time. Rating: 6