Serene Allen finds key with sensible, yet radical, plan
And the Limerick leader was, ahem, a Corkman...
One obvious adjective to describe Allen? Serene. Another: measured. Heâs a serene, measured individual and heâs produced a team who play serene, measured hurling. In possession, Limerick are more composed than Limerick teams tend to be. They donât hit aimless ball, they donât try to do everything at 100 miles an hour and they donât go for a handpass to a colleague on their shoulder when they can hit a 30-metre pass off the stick instead. Where Clareâs approach frequently looks forced, an imposition from above, Limerickâs is organic and natural. Above all theyâre sensible. Against the wind last Sunday they went for shortness and precision. With the wind they went long. In the long run, common sense brings a team further than genius ever can. Six years ago Limerick travelled to Croke Park for the All-Ireland series as beaten Munster finalists. A support act. An afterthought to Waterford. This year theyâll travel as champions and headliners. And theyâll deserve to.
Get your subs on and get them on early, according to The Numbers Game, the soccer/statistics mash-up book that every second sportswriter seems to be rabbiting on about this summer. (In prĂ©cis: a manager whose team are losing stands a decent chance of taking something from the match â as high as 52% in Serie A â if he gets his three subs on by the 58th, 73rd and 79th minutes respectively.) Regardless of whether the Limerick management have read the book or not, their 20-man game helped tilt the balance against both Tipperary and Cork in the closing stages. The standard operating procedure works like this. They use their full complement of subs, they give them plenty of game time â a collective 62 minutes against Tipp and 59 minutes against Cork â and they always have the first two on before the third quarter has ended. Against Tipp the subs scored three points. Last Sunday they scored six. The first man withdrawn on both occasions was David Breen, one of the teamâs two main puckout targets. Breenâs job is not to hurl like the reincarnation of Christy Ring but to provide a presence under the dropping ball and give them a foothold. By the 45-minute mark or so Breen has done his job, the game has opened up and the heavy ordnance is withdrawn in favour of the snipers. Limerick are not only playing a 20-man game, theyâre planning for it. Theyâre radical, not reactionary.
The Patrick Horgan sending-off. Was it harsh? Yes. Was it outrageous? No. Did McGrath apply the rules? Clearly. Did his decision affect the pattern of the game? Yes. Did it affect the result? Probably not. Is Horgan â whose earlier miss from the edge of the square was arguably as important â âthat kind of playerâ? Not in the least, but the phrase is almost as irritatingly trite as that other great standby âyouâve seen them givenâ, its corollary being that only âthat kind of playerâ should ever be sent off, with the ref inspecting the miscreantâs rap sheet before deciding which colour card to flash. As for McGrathâs Westmeath provenance, thatâs irrelevant too. Michael Wadding sent off Tommy Walsh and Noel McGrath in Thurles back in March for a brace of trivial offences. He was criticised for it and rightly so. But his county of origin shouldnât have come into it. Nor did it.
If he occasionally feels like he woke up after his heart procedure and found himself back in 2004 all over again, that would come as no surprise. Once more Kilkenny were beaten in the Leinster semi-final. Once more theyâre on a circuit of Ireland. Once more they pulled out a huge effort against dangerous opponents in a qualifier (Galway then, Tipperary now). Once more they were flat for the next match (Clare then, Waterford now). Once more their scoring rate has gone through the floor (1-13 and 1-11 against Clare then, 1-12 against Waterford now). Once more theyâre leggy, tired, wobbling. Once more they still donât have the decency to hit the canvas and remove themselves from the championship. Kilkenny fallible are considerably more interesting than Kilkenny rampant ever were. The broad beam on the managerâs face at half-time in extra time Saturday suggested heâs enjoying the ride too.
Back on the eve of the championship, quizzed as to which would be the first big head to roll this summer, your correspondent suggested Waterford (never once dreaming that Kilkenny and Tipp would face off to see whoâd precede them). As it turned out, they duly failed to make the quarter-finals, but given their losses â to emigration, injury, army duty, retirement â the wonder was how close they came, the glory in the way they punched their weight and then some. Hurling fans being obsessed with their what-ifs, moreover, it is no criticism of either Seamus Prendergast or John Mullane to muse that had the latter been there seven days ago heâd have feasted on the crumbs that fell from the table and Waterford may well have won with a couple of points to spare. At their rollicking noughties best Waterford were magnificent in victory. Last Saturday they were magnificent in defeat. And next year theyâll be quarter-final contenders again. Donât stop believing......
âHe wouldnât have blown the whistle had Waterford been attacking,â declared many people accusingly afterwards, and not all of them from Kilkenny. Perhaps not. But at least James Owens knew what he was doing.
Seventy minutes against erratic opponents away from an All Ireland semi-final. How many Clare folk will say it happened because of Davy? How many Clare folk will say it happened despite Davy?
Like John Allen, a man who sent out a team in his own likeness, albeit â a very different likeness to Allenâs. A lot of what Wexford did in Parnell Park, and some of what they got up to last Saturday, was distasteful, but weâre giving them a pass. Look at the bigger picture. A bit like Fr Murphy from old Kilcormac, Dunne has stirred up the rocks with a warning cry. No longer are the most likeable hurling county of them all somnambulating through the motions. For the first time in a decade, Wexford folk can look forward to next year.
