Hurling's 'game of inches' came into focus last weekend

Life's just a game of inches - and so is the All-Ireland hurling championship

Minute 73 ticks away on the clock in the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick are up by a point and a draw knocks Tipperary out.

I’m perched in the radio box atop the Mackey Stand with Marty Morrissey and we’re trying our best to describe to the listeners the epic that is unfolding before our eyes.

Never in my life was a Tipperary person so happy to see a Limerick man - in this case Gearoid Hegarty - snap a ball from Nicky Quaid’s puckout, shrug off a tackle and nail it straight between the posts to put some breathing space between the teams.

Al Pacino’s speech from Any Given Sunday came to mind on the way home as I waited in line at the toll bridge near the Caherdavin exit.

Life’s just a game of inches and so was the round-robin of the hurling championship - in both Munster and Leinster. Credit to our Leinster comrades they stepped up and provided us with great excitement last week in Croker and Wexford Park and perhaps none more so than the Joe McDonagh epic finale on Saturday.

Inches... that's what it came down to. At the Gaelic Grounds where Limerick edged out Cork, in the dying seconds if Gearóid Hegarty does not catch that ball and it breaks to the floor, there'd have been a battle to the death, like a pack of hyenas fighting over the last bit of meat.

Then if there’s a 50/50 call to be made, we could easily have seen the Rebels win a free to level the game up.

In the form Patrick Horgan was in on Sunday, scoring 1-14, I’ve no doubt that even if that free was out near the KFC drive thru on the Ennis Road he would have fancied it, and probably nailed it.

I then thought the noise barrier would have been shattered if the PA announcer came on to say to the 40,000