Northern blues forgotten as attention moves elsewhere
Nine days out from the code’s biggest day, the question should be posed. Kilkenny’s 52-point defeat of Derry in last Saturday’s U21 All-Ireland semi-final ended up one of hurling’s darker days.
Face a related question: how much further off the pace would Antrim or Down have fallen? Within the province, Derry had 16 points to spare over Down and two points over Antrim. That relay is a chilling piece of sports arithmetic.
We hear a lot of chatter about this brave new world in hurling, about systems and short games and possession.
There is even what could be called ‘soccerology hurling’, a trend amenable to those people who suffer from the cultural cringe that sees matters English or British orientated as superior. They are not thin on the ground, those people.
The brave emphasis makes me wry. If the most beautiful game could be seriously improved by adopting a particular system, we could redeem Ulster hurling in the morning. All those counties would need to do is play in this system.
There is no such remedy. To be honest, this slice of realism undercuts much of the chatter. There is only hard work and the frustrations of hard work.
Meanwhile, there is a resonant keynote for Galway meeting Waterford: the ending of a famine. A 29-year long one or 58-year long one ends. There will be joy unconfined by Corrib or by Suir.
The uniqueness of this pairing emphasises varied expectation levels in different GAA cultures. Quite obviously, ‘famine’ is a relative term. Last year, Cork hurling was supposedly in crisis.
Yet across all GAA cultures runs the prestige of successive titles. If serious talent is required to win one senior title, serious character is required to retain it.
Gloss flaked off Clare’s triumph in 2013 due to their performance in following seasons.
This year’s keynote, before the season unfurled, was uncomplicated: could Tipperary manage back to back titles? That balloon fell slowly from the sky, starting from last March’s drawn league tie between Kilkenny and Tipperary, when the latter failed to make good on an eight-point lead after 21 minutes.
Results remake perspectives as well as rolls of honour. Tipperary’s preoccupation with successive titles has curdled in some circles. There is even a view now that such prestige is a mirage.
To this end, there came an amusing column in the Nenagh Guardian the week after Galway defeated Tipperary in their All-Ireland semi-final. Now that the great event had not occurred, it became convenient to pretend that desire for it had never existed in the first place (or was misplaced, even if it did exist). Why confess to loving steak when it has been taken off the menu?
‘Killinan End’ indicted “delusional thinking” on the topic and identified its supposed source: “Much of this emanates from Kilkenny winning unlikely numbers of All-Ireland titles in the last decade or so.” He proceeded to pull and yank at the weave of Kilkenny achievements in the 2000s, framing one decider thus: “In the 2007 All-Ireland final, they beat a Limerick team that won only three of seven championship games that year and which lost an All-Ireland semi-final to Tipp two years later by 24 points.”
The following year gets off no lighter: “In 2008, they beat a Waterford that conceded seven goals to Tipp a few years later”.
As we discern, everything must be refracted through the Premier prism. If Kilkenny overcome a team later beaten by Tipperary, the earlier victory is eroded by the later one. Here is hurling history as a version of bulimia.
I love running across this stuff in local newsprint. Such passages concentrate a whole historical perspective. There is a certain magnificence to a particular kind of wrongheadedness.
If Kilkenny win, Munster hurling is weak. If Kilkenny win a lot, Munster hurling is extremely weak.
Notice a tendency? While the ostensible emphasis is on one province, the actual emphasis is on Cork and Tipperary hurling. Every senior title Kilkenny have won is illegitimate because the campaign began in Leinster.
This craic is about as sensible as saying Galway would be Ireland’s most westerly county if Kerry did not exist. God made Leinster, not the Kilkenny County Board.
Besides, the latter entity is on record this long time as in favour of a move away from provincial championships into an open draw. The faction in favour of keeping the supposed disadvantage that is the Munster Championship are all natives of Munster.
Dealing with this level of confusion is a difficult matter.
Which or whether, Galway will take a fifth senior title or Waterford a third senior title. Hurling in one of these counties receives an immeasurable boost. Their victorious players go down in history. They can even start mulling on two in a row.
And still those flames will lick around the old game in Ulster. Does anyone care, nine days out?
There is aresonant keynote for Galway meeting Waterford: the ending of a famine
