Anthony Daly: Is it all going too smooth for Limerick? Is this all perfectly set up for Cork?

Cork’s Sean O’Donoghue clashes with Limerick’s Cian Lynch during the Munster SHC clash. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

After we won the All-Ireland in 1997, our second in three years, the feeling afterward was completely different from our first. It was more satisfying, more gratifying, not just because we knew what to expect but also because we were more mature, and worldly as people.

I mean this in the best possible way, but you also knew what to avoid, or try to steer clear of. It was only natural that the county would go nuts after winning a first All-Ireland in 81 years. It was life-changing stuff, but we spent that winter, and the following spring playing catch up to a train that was always running away from us.

After 1995, the following year’s championship didn’t really enter our heads until the year turned, whereas our thoughts had already switched to 1998 not too long after we’d bagged the 1997 title. Of course, we enjoyed ourselves. I had some of the best nights of my life after the 1997 win, but we were still eyeing that third title in four years, not just because we felt we were good enough, but because we believed it would really cement our greatness as a team.

We tried to rein in the madness a bit more during that autumn and winter of 1997 — in comparison to post 1995 anyway — but that wasn’t easy because we had to do most of the fundraising ourselves for the team holiday. We wanted to treat ourselves to a nice break — which we did in San Diego and Hawaii — but we had to roll up our sleeves and bring in the cash to pay for the trip.

We picked a pub or a venue in every parish around the county, with the promise that three players and the Liam MacCarthy cup would be present. We didn’t charge any money, but the underlying intention was that anyone who was there, would make — however big or small — some contribution to the fund.

We really enjoyed those nights but there was no shortage of them and, no matter how much you tried to row back from those events as the autumn segued into deep winter, it was still 2 or 3 in the morning by the time you’d get home. You’d have a few beers. You’d probably have a basket of chicken nuggets and chips sitting inside in your belly because you might have gone straight from work and hadn’t time to grab a bite to eat beforehand. Nutrition certainly wasn’t what it is now.

It just went on and on. Even the framed panel photograph didn’t sell as well as the 1995 picture. It was only natural that there wasn’t the same novelty as there was after 1995. We all just had to work harder again to raise the money.

The hunger was still there in 1998 but there’s no doubt that the extra strain does take its toll. We had a mixed league in 1998. We were flat in the drawn Munster final against Waterford and should have been caught in the first All-Ireland semi-final against Offaly. We were leaking petrol all summer before eventually running out of gas, and road.

It’s interesting now to compare the dynamic — not the teams — between ourselves back then and Limerick now. It was disappointing for the Limerick lads to miss out on all those post-All-Ireland winning celebrations that we were lucky to experience in 1997. But, in a strange and ambitious type of way, it was no harm for their preparations for this season, especially when the championship only finished in December.

With the lockdown after January, the lads got a break from training. I’m sure they enjoyed that break even more too by not having to worry about chasing after all the other teams. With the ban on collective training, no team could really get a head start on anyone else.

Limerick took their time getting back. They would have known full well that they wouldn’t hit the ground running, and that there could be blips along with way, which there were. That’s where there has really been some similarities with Clare in 1998, especially in their form-line.

The league was mixed. Limerick didn’t play well against Cork in July but still got the job done. They were obliterated for much of the first half of the Munster final against Tipp before blowing Tipp away in the second half, and then driving straight through Waterford when they stepped on the gas two weeks ago.

And yet, there have still been evident cracks. Their discipline has been questionable, as ours was in 1998. Aaron Gillane should have been sent off in the Munster final. Peter Casey got his marching orders two weeks ago and — even though I’m glad he plays tomorrow — Caso can count himself lucky to have won his appeal for that red card.

John Kiely got narky earlier in the season when referees and the world and its mother seemed to be turning against Limerick, which is exactly how we felt in 1998. They have similarly discovered — as we did — that winning one All-Ireland is grand, but that two is deemed more than enough, and that the potential of bagging three in four years is a thought many in the establishment don’t want to entertain.

In the past, especially against Limerick, every other county would be shouting against Cork. But most of the neutrals want Cork to win tomorrow.

Limerick have been supremely focused and have surmounted every challenge put in their way so far. They probably feel close to peaking now, as they did in last year’s final. They could be fresh too because the late end to their season allowed them a break in January and February when every other player on every other side was diligently working away on their own.

On the flipside though, that time between January-March — when nothing much else was going on — presented huge opportunity to every other side. More time on their own meant the Cork lads had more time to stew over the winter on another lost championship. No collective training put the onus on lads to individually step up and do the hard graft themselves. And Cork have shown all the signs of those increased levels of strength and conditioning.

The big word with Cork to date this year is consistency, especially when a lack of it had defined this group in the past. How often in the past could you name the starting Cork team — especially their six defenders — in the lead up to a big game without struggling to match all the names to those starting jerseys? The only question in the lead up to this final was whether Cork would start Shane Kingston.

If Limerick have improved, so too have Cork. The biggest question of all though is by how much, and especially when they will face a much sterner question than Limerick posed in July. Limerick were there for the taking that night, but Cork couldn’t drive through the open door. And the door will be shut a lot tighter tomorrow.

How can Cork win? Their pace and goalscoring ability are the obvious answers to that question but trying to generate those opportunities is a whole different challenge against this Limerick side. Sprinting at full speed requires exploding out of the blocks but Limerick are the masters of knocking the blocks out of sight.

The most noticeable aspect of Limerick’s win against Waterford was their execution levels, especially their stick passing to the man in possession, under incredible heat from Waterford. When Limerick apply that same pressure tomorrow, will Cork be able to survive it? If they can’t, they won’t be able to get their running game going where it really matters most — high up the pitch.

Limerick were unbelievably focused for the Waterford game. Even when Waterford hit them with everything they had early on, Limerick just took what they had, and it knocked nothing out of them. They are the absolute exemplars of that next ball mentality.

Cork were outstanding against Kilkenny, but they will have to hit another level again to win here. The word is that Darragh Fitzgibbon was sick for the Kilkenny game but Cork will need a flying Darragh Fitz if they are to break Limerick’s grip around the middle. They’ll need Mark Coleman to have another game like he had against Kilkenny, but the conundrum Coleman and Cork will now face will centre around Cian Lynch, especially when their standout man-marker, Ger Mellerick is surely out injured. Cork will want Coleman to be at his creative best but it’s hard to perform those duties if you’re trying to lasso Lynch. That’s just another one of the many question marks around Cork.

Everything points towards the All-Ireland champions. They have the experience at this level, which only Patrick Horgan and Seamus Harnedy have for Cork. They’ve had at least a two-week break before every game, which is perfect in trying to manage injuries and fatigue. They’ve got Casey off when it looked like they’d no chance.

On the otherhand, you could ask is it all going too smooth for Limerick? Is this all perfectly set up for Cork? I expect Cork to perform and to push Limerick to the wire. But I see Limerick winning that third All-Ireland in four years, which would absolutely cement this group’s greatness.