Galway's Joe Canning stretches for the sliotar after losing his hurl in a tangle with Kilkenny's Aidan Fogarty at O'Connor Park, Tullamore. Photo: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
Eamon O'Shea and Anthony Cunningham will walk into the last-chance saloon in Thurles next Saturday evening, sit down and order a drink that could well be their last.
Defeat is unthinkable for Tipperary manager O'Shea and his Galway counterpart Cunningham in a massive All-Ireland senior hurling qualifier at Semple Stadium.
For the loser, it's his last game in charge of his native county. And as former Tipp manager Liam Sheedy noted at a county board meeting, playing careers are on the line too.
Galway suffered from the concession of too many frees against Kilkenny on Saturday night.
And four of their forwards – Niall Burke, Joe Canning, Johnny Glynn and Joseph Cooney – didn't score from play. That tells a tale. Much of the spotlight will fall on Joe, once again.
I can relate to what he's going through in these situations.
Going out week after week with that almost unbearable pressure to deliver must be so difficult. And I suspect Joe puts a huge amount of the pressure on himself to perform.
It's a recurring theme. If Joe doesn't play well or is below par, it's almost certain Galway will lose. That's unfair on Joe, but until Galway find two or three players of a comparable quality, they will continue to struggle. And if they don't find them, they're going to struggle for a number of years.
I remember carrying that burden of scoring responsibility during my time with Waterford. It became like a noose around my neck, weighing me down and affecting all aspects of my life.
I'd miss inter-county hurling on match days, but retiring brought relief. I felt like a new man. That weight of expectation had lifted.
I remember leading up to games that I'd be narky and edgy. I felt I had to keep on top of everything. My preparation for games was meticulous. I couldn't lower my standards for a second in training. It's not a nice pressure to have.
Joe probably knows that if he doesn't play well or doesn't deliver the type of cameo performance that illuminated the drawn match against Kilkenny, Galway are not going to win. He's watching other players around him that were hitting the heights in 2012 but have dipped since then. That's affecting the lad too and he's asking himself: 'Why should I be the one to carry the can?'
Conor Cooney is playing well but other players need to step forward and take some of the heat off Joe.
Look at other successful inter-county teams and they have four or five marquee forwards. Galway have just one, and if Joe's not playing well and there's nobody else to bail the team out, I'm sure that's upsetting for Joe and it will affect him.
I'd get him back on the frees too. Cooney's dander is up, he's full of confidence and he'll score from play but the more Joe is involved, the better it is. If he gets a couple of early frees, his confidence will follow. He's captain, too, and that brings added pressure. It's time for the Burkes – Niall and David – to finally deliver.
If Galway are to stay in the championship, these two really need to rediscover their form from 2012.
How Galway react to defeat will go a long way towards determining the outcome of Saturday's showdown.
Three games in as many weeks can work two ways. Galway have momentum and match practice but they'll find it difficult to lift themselves. However, they're coming up against a Tipperary team in a similar boat – low on confidence and racked by uncertainty.
It's all set up for a cracking tie and I'm backing Tipperary to achieve that first championship win under O'Shea.
They have a better selection of players and a couple of marquee forwards who can do damage if they get going and get that bit between the teeth. Tipperary by two or three points for me and if that happens, Anthony Cunningham is out of a job.
Still, Galway isn't a county renowned for managerial longevity and Cunningham is just the latest man to step on board the merry-go-round.
Magical night for Ken the icing on great Deise period
It's been a great few days for Waterford hurling. Our minors are through to a fifth Munster final in six seasons, Ken McGrath's benefit match was a roaring success and our seniors produced an efficient display to bounce Laois out of the championship on Saturday evening.
To the minors, first. They'll be underdogs in the Munster final against Limerick but after winning just one of the previous four provincial deciders, we could do with another.
Friday night then and what can you say? More than 7,000 people turned up to pay tribute to Ken and they came from all over the country. And what about the people of Waterford?
A fantastic response and it just goes to show that when difficult situations arise, there are no better people to rally round each other. It was no more than Ken deserved.
The highlight for me was playing alongside my idol – the ex-Limerick player Ciaran Carey.
I went out of my way to get my photo taken with Ciaran and it was just one of those magical nights that I'll never forget.
PRESSURE
Waterford's victory over Laois capped off the weekend. Make no mistake, this Waterford team – and manager Derek McGrath – found themselves under massive pressure before the game.
It's evident now that supporters are going to have to accept that a style of play is in place – and it's not going to change any time soon.
It would have been difficult for Derek to tinker with it. He's after going with something for the best part of six or seven months and supporters will have to accept that this is the way forward.
Laois tried something similar, with that extra man at the back, and it failed. If they had gone a bit more direct, they could have put in a better performance but I was pleased with Waterford.
Arriving at Walsh Park, I was worried, but it seems that if you take Laois out of Portlaoise, they don't offer very much.
They remain a work in progress but the Laois supporters were disappointed with that showing, which was their worst of the year.
Waterford had their homework done and a lot of the bigger players really stepped up to the mark. Kevin Moran, Brick Walsh and Pauric Mahony were very good.
Shane Walsh chipped in with a couple of goals and the pressure is off Waterford now. Derek's after getting that first championship win and if they get a bigger team in the next round, they'll go in as underdogs and have a right crack at it.
Faithful comeback proves they really do care
That was a massive victory for Offaly in Ballycastle yesterday. And it just goes to show that the Offaly players DO care about their county.
They rolled up their sleeves when it was really needed, coming from five points down to hit 1-4 without reply.
Offaly are probably at their lowest point for a long number of years, but to go to Ballycastle and produce late heroics like that is testament to their character. Antrim manager Kevin Ryan will be disappointed. He's after doing tremendous work up there and I still believe that Antrim are going in the right direction.
Their U-21s were in an All-Ireland final last year and they beat Laois in Portlaoise. OK, they gave a below par performance against Wexford and it would have been a massive boost to win yesterday, but Offaly needed this one more.
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