Kieran Shannon: A team for the ages still coming of age, it's impossible to see Limerick stopping at four
Going nowhere: Limerick's Sean Finn and Graeme Mulcahy celebrate after Sunday's triumph. Mulcahy is the only outfield player over the age of 30. Pic: INPHO/Bryan Keane
So ingrained is the Next Ball mindset that Kiely, Kinnerk and Currid have instilled, they seem to only concern themselves with the present before then turning their focus to the future. History is something which for now they tend to leave to the rest of us to consider, which is partly why they continue to make it. Where once their county’s story was literally Unlimited Heartbreak, now it is Unlimited Joy. Unlimited success. Because when can you see this ending? Who can you see stopping them?
In trying to contextualise the wonder that is this Limerick team, we – or rather they – invariably end up relegating some terrific teams in the pantheon, even if the brilliance itself of those sides should remain undiminished.
Last Sunday the Clare team of both ’95 and ’97 enjoyed their jubilee celebrations, even if it would have been more satisfying all round had there been more people in their seats to salute them and the Wexford team of ’96. They changed the game, so much so their era was known as the revolution years, introducing and educating whole new constituencies at home and abroad as to the splendour of this ancient game; the Riverdance of Sport as a man at the time famously and brilliantly described it.
What separated that Clare team from that Wexford side among others was that they backed up their breakthrough with another All-Ireland, Loughnane famously driven by the words of Mick O’Dwyer that while a good team can win an All-Ireland it takes a great one to win a second. And they built on that again to win another Munster in ’98: their third in four years. When a national newspaper ran an award scheme and threw a function to identify and honour Irish sport’s manager of the millennium, Loughnane was the winner without any objections or claims of recency bias. It was viewed as fitting recognition of how far he’d brought on Clare, hurling, the GAA itself.
A third All-Ireland would prove elusive for that Clare team, just as it would be for the nucleus of other exceptional teams that followed the Cork three-in-a-row side of the late ’70s: the Galway team of the late ’80s, the Tipp team of Babs’, Offaly (albeit players like Conor Hayes, Declan Ryan and Joe Dooley would stay around long enough to win that third themselves). But all that was BC: Before Cody. After Cody, all changed, changed utterly.
Kilkenny would not be the only outstanding team of the first two decades of the new millennium. The Cork side of Cusack, Corcoran & Co, along with the Tipp team of the Mahers et al are in that rare club of being non-Kilkenny men to have won a third All-Ireland. Liam Sheedy made a point after the 2019 final that instead of always harping back to the 1960s, the people of Tipperary should appreciate just how good they had it following the likes of Brendan and Paudie Maher. In hindsight someone could have said the same about Cusack and his comrades, possibly when they were being most derided.
But now, improbably, indisputably, leaving them in the shade is Limerick. Tipp, as they’re constantly reminded, haven’t won back-to-back since the mid-60s. Cork were stopped winning the three-in-a-row by Cody. But Limerick weren’t. They couldn’t.
In breaking that barrier, all kinds of other opportunities in the guise of obstacles arise.
The only hurling teams to previously pull off the four in a row are the Cork side of 1941 to 1944 and Cody’s invincibles of 2006 to 2009.
The last non-Kilkenny man to win a fifth All-Ireland senior inter-county hurling medal was Jimmy Barry-Murphy back in 1986.
Indeed, with their age profile, you’d fancy a lot of the the Limerick players to equal or possibly even surpass his entire haul of six Celtic Crosses when you throw in the one he won in football, the same year their county won their only Liam MacCarthy in 78 years.
Graeme Mulcahy is their only outfield player who is over 30. By the time of next year’s championship throw-in, Declan Hannon and Dan Morrissey will also be in their 30s, but William O’Donoghue and Diarmaid Byrnes are the only other starters who will join that club this side of the 2024 All-Ireland final. The core of the team then will still only be 27.
It all depends on two factors: Kiely staying on and how their opponents mobilise themselves.
Previous possible dynasties prematurely self-combusted or were derailed because of a lack of continuity and planning: think Cork after John Allen’s departure, or Tipp after Liam Sheedy’s initial parting. One of the most comforting and pleasing aspects if you’re a Limerick fan or player is that there hasn’t been a hint that Kiely and his backroom are going anywhere anytime soon. So long as he is there, Limerick will be there or thereabouts.
The revolution years eventually ended because the empire struck back, first in the form of Cork. Pat Ryan was a member of that playing panel, and if he surrounds himself with the right people from that era along with others who weren’t, Cork should win at least one All-Ireland on his beat. Win one and they’re better placed than anyone to win a second. Whatever, the county cannot tolerate going 20 years without Liam MacCarthy back on Leeside.
The county that should have the greatest urgency and resolve though to stop Limerick and start winning All-Irelands themselves has to be Waterford. Up to 20 months ago, their contribution to the championship in the 21st century was easily the equal if not better of a Limerick, their team of the noughties probably the third-best non-Kilkenny team of the millennium. But yet here we are now, Declan Hannon having lifted Liam MacCarthy for a fourth time in as many years and no Waterford man has done it since 1959. The current team have the best blend of talent and experience to challenge Limerick over the next couple of years but they either do it in that window or it’s likely closed for at least another decade.
John Mullane yesterday spoke that Liam Cahill’s successor should be another outsider, though he favours the retention of Tony Browne as a selector to avoid his first season being his last. Given the age profile of the players though, we would argue here that the return of Derek McGrath should not be discounted. Just because he adopted a certain playing style in his first stint doesn’t mean it would be the one he would adopt in a second. No one knows the players better which at this juncture possibly means there is no candidate better.
For now a green giant bestrides the hurling world. And even if they never win another thing, their greatness is unquestionable. It’s not just the four All-Irelands they have won. The one year they didn’t win it, they won both the league and Munster. This year they won four Munsters in a row, again something that hasn’t been done since Jimmy finished up. They won leagues when they were right to go for leagues and part of their mastery is that they’ve eased up on leagues when it’s been time to ease up on leagues.
There has been possibly the occasional year that has had a better All-Ireland final and one year – 2004 – that had as good a Munster final, but never before have we had the double slam of a team winning both a great Munster final and a great All-Ireland final as Limerick pulled off this year (honourable mention to Cork in 1990).
A team for the ages.
