All-Ireland talking points: Tony Kelly cements his greatness and Lohan joins pantheon
Seconds before he presented the Liam MacCarthy, GAA President Jarlath Burns took a moment to acknowledge Tony Kelly. As well as speaking briefly about his background, Burns listed off Kelly’s achievements, ranging from his club to college to county, but it almost felt like a needless formality. Kelly has never needed numbers to justify his genius.
And yet, nobody craved this All-Ireland more to frank that greatness, to corroborate it, to cement that iconic status. The first player to win Hurler-of-the-Year and Young Hurler of the Year in the same season, at just 20 mind, the intervening years had been defined by river of regret and unfulfilled ambition in the pursuit of that second Celtic Cross Kelly won three All-Stars in succession between 2020-’22 but successive disappointing days in All-Ireland semi-finals in 2022 and 2023 added to the longing, which was exacerbated by a serious ankle injury, that required surgery and a long rehab process over the winter and spring.
When Clare played Limerick in the opening round in Munster in April, Kelly made his first appearance on the pitch in close to eight months. He looked off the pace. A setback a few days later saw him miss the Cork game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. What would the rest of the summer hold?
It was always going to be a struggle to get back into that rhythm, which was a theme of Kelly’s summer. He went 47 minutes without a possession in the All-Ireland semi-final before coming up with big plays when the need was greatest. And when Clare needed some magic yesterday, their great magician sprinkled that stardust all over Croke Park.
His big plays were colossal moments in the match, as much for their timing and impact than their sheer genius. Kelly’s goal was one of the best ever seen in an All-Ireland final, loaded with cheek and silk, executed with the combined calmness and ruthlessness of a deadly assassin. His balletic turn, pirouette and point to put Clare ahead in the dying moments of normal time was a moment of epic theatre.
His point late on in extra-time could arguably be pin-pointed as the moment which finally turned this match and bent it Clare’s direction with the finishing line in sight. As well as forcing the turnover, the way in which Kelly kept the ball alive and away from the clutches of a couple of Cork players epitomised his mesmeric genius.
The great players know when and how to deliver when the need is greatest, as if that requirement is encrypted into their DNA. From Kelly’s last eight possessions in the match, across normal and full-time, Kelly scored 1-4, had an assist, a goal chance saved before flicking the rebound across to David Fitzgerald whose goal shot was stopped by Ciarán Joyce.
When the need was greatest, Kelly firmly cemented his greatness.
Another shooting firestorm
What else did anyone expect? With these two teams, it just wasn’t possible to be guaranteed anything other than a shootout. When they met in Munster in late April, it was the joint-second highest scoring match in Munster championship history. There were 84 shots taken that afternoon in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which was a record.
When Cork and Limerick met in the semi-final two weeks ago, there had never been as many shots taken in such a high-stakes game in Croke Park – 99. The only time any two teams had gone close to that number at Headquarters, was in the 2022 Clare-Kilkenny All-Ireland semi-final, when there were 97 shots. And that was a rout for Kilkenny.
There wasn’t that many shots taken yesterday in normal time – but this was surely the most shots ever taken in an All-Ireland final in normal time; there was 87 shots in the opening 70 plus minutes. Across the 100 plus minutes, there was a staggering 112 shots taken.
High scoring games have become a feature of recent finals; the 2021 and 2022 deciders were the two highest scoring in history (over 70 minutes) when there was a combined 66 points in both matches. Yet the 2021 final was a rout for Limerick whereas the decider a year later was a two-point win for Limerick over Kilkenny.
That afternoon, there were 84 shots taken at the target, but the conversion rates of both teams was outstanding – Limerick at 71 per cent, Kilkenny at 72 per cent. Both teams weren’t as accurate yesterday – Clare at 57 per cent, Cork at 64 per cent.
Crucially though, Clare were more economical in extra-time; Clare’s conversion rate in that last 20 plus minutes was 67 per cent, with Cork’s coming in at 53 per cent. In the second half, Cork scored just two of their five shots from play, while Clare scored three of their five.
Tiny, tiny margins. But massive gains for Clare. And excruciating pain for Cork.
Lohan becomes another All-Ireland winning player and manager
In his acceptance speech, Tony Kelly said that “hurling is a religion in Clare and Brian Lohan is like our God”. Anthony Daly has always claimed that Lohan was Clare’s greatest player, as much for his defiance and unbreakable character and spirit than his incredible defending.
Across the last 50 years, one of the most noticeable trends of All-Ireland winning managers is that they were former inter-county players, a host of whom were All-Ireland winning players – Pat Henderson, Eddie Keher, Justin McCarthy, Johnny Clifford, Michael Babs Keating, Ollie Walsh, Eamonn Cregan, Jimmy Barry Murphy, Brian Cody, Nicky English, Donal O’Grady, John Allen, Liam Sheedy, Davy Fitzgerald, Michael Ryan.
A number of those winning managers were inspiring clerical figures; Monsignor Tommy Maher (Kilkenny), Fr Bertie Troy (Cork), Canon Michael O’Brien (Cork). A handful more proved to be messianic figures in their own county, or beyond; Cyril Farrell, Dermot Healy, Michael Bond.
Healy was the first outside manager to win an All-Ireland in 1981, when the Kilkenny man led Offaly to their maiden All-Ireland. Bond, a Galway man, replaced Babs Keating after the 1998 Leinster final and steered Offaly to that year’s All-Ireland.
The cult of the manager was only really popularised in the late 1970s by Kevin Heffernan and Mick O’Dwyer with Dublin and Kerry in football, while it only became more pronounced in the hurling in the early 1980s, particularly when two figures who weren’t noted county players – Farrell and Healy – guided Galway and Offaly to All-Irelands in 1980 and 1981 respectively. Farrell went on to manage Galway to two more titles in 1987 and 1988 while Healy repeated the trick with Offaly in 1985.
Brian Dooher and Fergal Logan became the first joint-managers to win an All-Ireland with Tyrone in 2021 but Henderson and Eddie Keher led Kilkenny to the 1979 All-Ireland, when that term of joint-managers didn’t exist. Justin McCarthy also coached Cork to the 1984 Centenary title alongside Canon O’Brien.
One of the most dominant trends of the last 50 years though, was how many All-Ireland managers were defenders or goalkeepers; Pat Henderson, Ollie Walsh, Brian Cody, Ger Loughnane, John Kiely, Liam Sheedy, Micheál Donoghue, Donal O’Grady, Davy Fitzgerald, Micheal Ryan. Eamonn Cregan was a brilliant forward but he won his All-Ireland medal with Limerick at centre-back in 1973.
And now Lohan becomes the latest former All-Ireland winning player to repeat that feat as a manager.
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