Anthony Daly: Limerick have set a standard that will echo for eternity
Eleven years ago, after Kilkenny won their 11th All-Ireland title in 16 years under Brian Cody, and their fourth in the five years after they’d been stopped from achieving the five-in-a-row, I never thought I’d see a better team again in my lifetime. Well, just over a decade on, I can say now that I have.
Limerick may have some distance to travel yet to win more All-Irelands but greatness is never measured by just medals and silverware either. I know it’s easier to run harder when you’re ahead but, watching the Limerick players hunt and tackle and chase every ball like their lives depended on it in the last ten minutes yesterday, you’d think this crowd had never won anything before. When you think of legacy and culture, this Limerick group have set a standard that – similar to Cody’s Kilkenny – will echo an eternity.
Once again, Limerick produced the goods on the biggest day of the year, which is a remarkable testament to a generational group led by a generational manager and backroom team.
I’m not sure if John Kiely is going to stay or not but whatever he decides to do, this performance encapsulated his greatness as a manager. Limerick fit the profile of a generational team coming together at the right time but that still needs a generational manager to stitch everything together. And John has woven a wonderful tapestry.
He is just egoless. John only wants what is best for the group. He is happy to stay in the background let the good people he has assembled around him to contribute in their own unique ways.
John has been lucky to have had Paul Kinnerk and Caroline Currid alongside him on that journey but someone like Alan Cunningham also deserves great credit. Alan has been there since John first took over in 2017. The brilliance of the team on the field has been matched by the brilliance of it off the field.
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Eight of the players which started the 2018 final started yesterday, while three more came on, all of which underlines the longevity and greatness of this team. The last two years posed questions as to where Limerick would go next but those two seasons also really hurt them. Especially the defeat to Dublin when they had a spare man for most of the match.
I wrote here on Saturday about the lengths John went to last autumn when he met every player and backroom member for at least two hours. He was leaving no stone unturned for Limerick to return to the summit. And it was obvious from day one this year when they won the Munster league that Limerick were on a mission of atonement this season. And this performance confirmed it.
It also reaffirmed how hard they are to beat in finals. You could say that Kiely has never lost a final, because last year’s Munster final defeat to Cork was on penalties, so you can just imagine the confidence the group take from that record. They operate like they are unbeatable on this stage. Because they effectively are.
Limerick had heroes everywhere. Cathal O’Neill was probably the popular choice for man-of-the-match but I’d have given it to Aaron Gillane. I said here on Saturday that there was no better player to put a run of bad form behind him to burn it up on the biggest day. And Gillane certainly did. As well as the 0-4 he scored, he had the assist for O’Neill’s goal, as well as assists for a batch of more scores.
Gearóid Hegarty will be Hurler-of-the-Year. Similar to the semi-final, he didn’t care if he didn’t score from play again – which he didn’t. Hego nearly had two goals but his workrate and selflessness was again the hallmark of an outstanding season.
Cian Lynch was probably man-of-the-match up to half-time, while Kyle Hayes was incredible in the second half. Seán Finn did a good job on Jason Rabbitte after he’d given Mikey Casey his fill of it in the first ten minutes, while the half-back line will probably be the All-Star half-back line.
Aidan O’Connor and Cathal O’Neill will also surely be All-Stars, which is another sign of how the younger crew have taken on even more responsibility this year. Peter Casey has had a really solid year and won’t be far off an All-Star too.
Yesterday also offered firm proof of how far ahead of Leinster Munster really is. Galway may have beaten Cork – and deservedly so – in the semi-final but, while a Leinster side might beat a Munster team once, it’s extremely rare for that to happen twice.
It's no real surprise when you look at how the Munster teams are conditioned for the cauldron, having been exposed to the gladiatorial environments of Cusack Park, the Gaelic Grounds, Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Thurles. The Leinster teams just aren’t used to that on a consistent enough basis. Certainly not enough to prepare you for an All-Ireland final against a ravenous Limerick beast intent on devouring all in front of them.
Limerick just ate Galway alive all day in the tackle. No matter where a Galway player turned, there was a wave of green jerseys coming at him. It must have felt like being fired into a washing-machine, body and head spinning from the constant whirl.
I still thought that Galway would be better than they were. I was on the panel on ‘The Sunday Game’ last night as we picked our ‘Team of the Year’ while we also did something similar on Radio One after the final whistle. And the longer the game went on, the more Galway lads you were crossing off that team.
Galway didn’t play well and were always chasing the match, which is never where you want to be against Limerick. The match could have been over at half-time. Limerick probably should have been at least 10 points ahead. It could have been over even earlier again if two of Hegarty’s goal chances had gone in and hadn’t been brilliantly saved by Darach Fahy.
Limerick repeatedly sliced Galway open, especially down the middle channel. Peter Casey also could have had a goal before half-time only for an excellent block by Cillian Trayers.
Jason Rabbitte did try really hard but he was their only real outlet up front. He had Mikey Casey in big trouble early on, but once Limerick got a grip, the supply dried up to Rabbitte. And the writing was on the wall.
The occasion certainly looked to have got to some of Galway younger players, especially Darragh Neary, Gavin Lee and Tiernan Killeen. They are young lads with a great future but they were just wiped out around the middle from a tsunami of Limerick tacklers and hunters.
The Galway midfield was just smashed to pieces. You could have made a case for taking off both midfielders – Lee and Killeen - at half-time. I thought the management could have made at least two changes at the break, just to shake it up. They did bring in a raft of subs in the third quarter but I felt it was too late by then. The game was done and dusted after O’Neill’s goal.
Galway were always gasping for air, especially when a lot of their experienced lads didn’t show up either. And when Limerick start to push your head under the water, it’s only a matter of time before you see the bubbles.
