Anthony Daly: Too soon to talk about a hurling dynasty? I don't think so
Limerick manager John Kiely celebrates after the game. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
The first soccer World Cup I can remember was the 1978 tournament in Argentina. Mario Kempes and his long black curly locks combined with his winning goal provided the iconic moments from that final in Buenos Aries. But my abiding memories of that tournament were how it was lit up by the Dutch and their brilliant brand of Total Football.
I was too young to remember that unique style patented by Johan Cruyff and his team-mates in 1974 but I was always fascinated by that Dutch team, and how they gloriously transformed the game. I didn’t know what the term ‘Total Football’ meant at the time but I can recall being intrigued by the phrase.
When the term ‘Total Hurling’ first entered the hurling lexicon, it was largely through the brilliant and colourful Waterford team of the 2000s. You could argue that Kilkenny were often the ultimate purveyors of ‘Total Hurling’, especially towards the end of the 2000s. But I think you can say that Limerick have now taken that term to a whole new level.
Yesterday was a complete performance from a group that are so comfortable in every aspect of their play that you’d have to describe this display as the perfect illustration of ‘Total Hurling’.
Like Cruyff’s team, players are so adaptable and skilful that positions hardly even mean anything to them. They can convert an All-Star centre-forward to wing-back and he still runs the game from that part of the field. Barry Nash was a career forward but he looked like he’d been playing corner-back all his life.
Declan Hannon was better known as a forward throughout the early part of his career but he’s now become one of the best centre-backs in the game. Limerick’s outstanding goalkeeper Nickie Quaid plays midfield for his club. The best corner-back in the game, Sean Finn, also plays midfield for Bruff. You couldn’t make it up how good these guys are all over the pitch.
Seamie Flanagan’s point just after half-time encapsulated Limerick’s awesome display, and was an apt metaphor for the supreme command and control they had on the game. The sequence of play was also a total endorsement of the absolute quality coursing throughout their team, and the patience and measured class required to execute it.
A 50-50 ball between Finn and Dessie Hutchinson was won by Barry Nash, who popped it out to Diarmuid Byrnes. Seeing that Darragh O’Donovan was moving at an angle, Byrnes clipped a stick-pass to O’Donovan, who broke the tackle and hand-passed to a rampaging Kyle Hayes. Kyle played a beautiful cross-field ball into Flanagan, who stunned the sliotar with his first touch and slotted it straight over the bar. It was like a chess-master being given five free moves against an opponent.
There were stages when some of Limerick’s players looked like they were playing a challenge game; that’s how much they were in the zone. In any other All-Ireland final, Kyle Hayes and Tom Morrissey would have walked away with the man-of-the-match award but they couldn’t get near Gearoid Hegarty who produced an individual display from the heavens.
We’ve seen Kilkenny’s dominance in the past. We’ve heard about projected dominance from other teams. Nobody knows what the future holds but the scary thought for everyone else is that this machine is only getting warmed up. Limerick’s main men are still in their early to mid-20s. Some of them are years away from their prime.
And now that they fully know how sweet the taste of success is when compared to the sourness of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kilkenny, they don’t look like a crowd that will be sated anytime soon.
We all knew how special this group could be but it has still been a special feat of management to bring them to this level. This time last year, Limerick were in the media for the wrong reasons, when a couple of incidents got out of hand on trips abroad. But all that stuff was superbly handled by John Kiely, who has proven himself as the best manager in the game.
Limerick also have the best captain in the country. Hannon’s speech was a treasure but Hegarty’s words in his TV interview after being presented with his man-of-the-match award further underlined the absolute quality and depth of character in this squad. And for any great team, character, and enough good characters to drive the machine, is every bit as important as the class and skill and everything else that Limerick use to power it.
If Hannon was to walk away this morning, you could instantly think of seven or eight guys ready-made to step into his shoes as captain.
Everything about Limerick yesterday was awesome and Waterford had no way of stopping the machine. Waterford showed huge defiance coming up to half-time when reducing the deficit to three points. You almost felt that this could be their day of glory, but when Limerick dropped the pedal in the third quarter, Waterford knew the best they could hope for was respectability. They did create a raft of goal chances but you still always felt that Limerick were only at cruising speed.
It’s still been an incredible year for Waterford. They have a brilliant young manager and a team going in only one direction — up. They’ve found some excellent new players — Calum Lyons, Jack Fagan, Conor Prunty, Shane McNulty. Others have really grown into the players they always promised to be, especially Stephen Bennett.
Losing Tadgh de Burca so early was a massive blow but Iarlaith Daly was immense for a 20-year-old when he came in as Tadgh’s replacement. Jamie Barron was smothered by Limerick’s tsunami of power and physique in the middle third but I thought Austin Gleeson was immense. That’s another huge positive when Aussie has shipped so much stick over his consistency this season. Yesterday proved again that when Aussie is on, on a going day, he’s as good as anyone in the game.
It has been some journey for this Limerick team but it’s also worth remembering how long this success has been in the making. This time 10 years ago, the county was in the throes of despair. Some of their senior players went on strike. The team was in chaos. Limerick hurling looked to be going nowhere. The seniors prospects had collapsed but the foundation blocks of a new empire was built from the rubble.
The Academy was established. Joe McKenna and the McManus’s took control and steered a new path for their young players, and how they should be guided. Their success also underlines what can be achieved when a county board concedes some of their power and subsequently allows influential people to use that power in the right way.
The most impressive part of the Limerick system now is the absolute quality and volume of players they are producing. When I was finished on TV yesterday, I met John who was on the way to being interviewed for the Six One News. I gave him a fist pump.
We said we’d meet up in the new year for a chat. The last thing I said to him before he continued on his way was: ‘Where do Richie English and Mike Casey go when they come back?’ Their defence was so good yesterday that those two brilliant defenders weren’t even missed.
How hungry will those two guys be now to get back on the team next year? If you’re a defender on this team, you know full well this morning that if you drop off even 1% in hunger and application, you can forget about getting your place back in 2021.
Anyone who was watching the Cork-Limerick U20 game on Saturday evening will have seen how good, and how strong, young Cathal O’Neill is; and he’s still under 18. The Cork minors were fancied to win the All-Ireland this year but they were hammered by Limerick on Saturday in Thurles. Who knows where this could stop?
Every other county certainly knows this morning how hard they will have to work now if they’re to halt this team from potentially taking over. On the other hand, any genuine hurling supporter would have only delighted in the absolute brilliance of this team yesterday.
Winning an All-Ireland is a glorious and cherished experience but to win it the way Limerick did only adds to that glory.
When people recall the Dutch team of the 1970s now, that group are almost as famous and renowned for who they were and what they stood for than for rather than what they won. They never bagged that elusive World Cup but they will always be remembered for their principles and their electric brand of Total Football.
But when hurling people look back one day on the 2020 hurling season, they’ll remember Limerick for more than just the way they electrified the All-Ireland final with their panache and elan and supreme brand of Total Hurling.
They’ll also always recall how this Limerick team are an admirable collection of total winners.
