PM O'Sullivan: Limerick's greatest attribute is their honesty
Waterford’s Jamie Barron with Diarmaid Byrnes, Gearoid Hegarty and Will O'Donoghue of Limerick. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
This year, so trying and difficult, will be remembered for pivoting on a reduction.
Everything went to bare essentials. Hurling's showpiece, not long ago an unlikely enough event, fell in line with the time's broader sweep.
Limerick's comprehensive eleven-point victory over Waterford proved more remorseless than glamorous, more polish than stardust. Twelve days from Christmas, this victory was an Advent tree without tinsel, one with scant lights.
But their tree stands tallest. Nothing else matters. Amen.
Right now, Limerick care not a whit. They will see better days, games where fluency rather efficiency becomes the dominant note, but never a more successful occasion. The most you can win, any given season, is a Senior title.
Champions once more, Limerick must feel they are still left of the bang, still have their most explosive feats to come. Their team's age profile says so. You could argue the state of play in hurling's other leading counties says likewise. Item: Tipperary's nice fortune in evading these opponents in 2019's senior final.
They say we all have a spirit animal, a creature whom our innermost drives mirror, A totem, of sorts. Sports team are no different.
This title was won by the Limerick python rather than by the pack of wolves that harried opposition efforts in the first half. Here is this team's most daunting aspect for competitors. The current combination can hurl in different styles, can harness varied spirits.
Between the 9th minute, when Tom Morrissey deftly pointed, and the 17th minute, when Declan Hannon surged forward from centre back and made it 0-8 to 0-4, Limerick displayed remarkable cohesion and wit in their attacks. Sumptuous touch followed sumptuous touch. Opportunities were carved out by immaculate control in the tight, with the man coming infield at pace slipped the ball. Waterford were chased to cliff-edge but avoided, through admirable grit, falling into the abyss.
This period culminated in Stephen O'Keeffe's superb double save in the 12th minute. While both Kyle Hayes and Cian Lynch should have goaled, O'Keeffe kept Waterford on the cliff. Those eight minutes evinced where Limerick can evolve as a group. They can rise to be a team for whom instinct is the same as determination. Few teams, ever, could aspire to this condition. Goals, in time, will be the fuse.
Gearóid Hegarty, patently the day's best man, pointed in the 33rd minute for 0-14 to 0-6. This lead intimated, again, a contest-deciding goal. But the flags stayed white. Instead, Waterford made halftime only three points adrift, courtesy of two Stephen Bennett frees and a ripping Austin Gleeson score.
As if concerned by the narrow margin lupine flamboyance had delivered, Limerick resumed with points on their mind and a snake in their heart. They outscored Waterford by 0-10 to 0-5 in the third quarter, operating a masterful squeeze.
Sharply opposed body language at the second water break told its own tale. The fourth quarter ended up merely a digestion process. No goals were required for lubrication.
There exists a fable for every kind of progress. Characterise it as tortoise versus hare, time of the python versus hour of the wolf. That Limerick are becoming a hybrid creature is their most fearful aspect. For early to mid-2020s, their further evolution will be hurling's leading topic.
An old dynamic, where a team at its best in the All-Ireland semi-final struggles to reach the same groove, reappeared. Their touch, individually and collectively, fell markedly below what the new champions mustered.
Personnel might be an issue. Four or five of their starters are not obvious All-Ireland material. Kilkenny's naivete, last day out, flattered certain Waterford players. Kevin Moran, valiant as ever, may well retire. There will be gaps to fill.
For 2021, first and foremost, Waterford need Darragh Fives, Shane Fives and Conor Gleeson fit. Iarlaith Daly looked the part in ways and is top candidate for promotion. Dessie Hutchinson should be more potent for this season's bank of experience.
Waterford were beaten by a better team -- a far better team, in the end. So the fundamental question is whether their group can improve. The contrast between this county in 2019 and in 2020 offers hope.
Gearóid Hegarty endures as a case in point. Probably this season's Hurler of the Year, he is in many ways unrecognisable from the figure who started out in the mid 2010s, someone who often looked cumbersome and ponderous. Although Hegarty fouls too much, his stickwork and overall skill level are vastly improved.
The role of John Kiely and Paul Kinnerk in this sea change will exercise many minds on many sidelines. Limerick are admirable for any amount of reasons but their honesty is the star on that Christmas tree.
Much the same observation can be made, in some degree, of nearly all the Limerick players. Seán Finn and Cian Lynch look the team's only born hurlers. The group, coached by Kinnerk, adopted an approach based on dominance in midfield, which allows a lateral pass or two before a pinpoint delivery, often a diagonal one, is dispatched to the full-forward line.
Due to their strength and physique in a pell-mell middle third, they do not need too many bodies around the ball when it is on the floor. This factor allows colleagues to take up positions where an initial lateral offload opens up attacking possibilities. Opponents swarming around the ball suits Limerick. A more subtle class of tracking is required.
The significance of diagonal balls stands underappreciated. The crux is that such clearances commit the opposing defender's body weight. He forever needs to decide between an all out tackle, which allows a goal chance if he is then rounded, or hanging back a beat, which delivers a point chance. If the initial delivery is not coarsened by endeavour out the field, the defender is left in nigh impossible position.
As of now, cracking Limerick in middle third counts as hurling's supreme cipher. The task can be achieved but the margin for error gets tighter and tighter. While their play is not economical in certain regards, Limerick are getting better at what they do best, red in tooth and suffocating in squeeze.
Gauging the nature of this hurling beast will take time. You could even be cheesy. You could even say Limerick, in taking a second senior title that should have arrived in 2019, threw a monkey off their back. But cheese, like everything else, is now beside the point.
Yesterday settled a lot of talk.
