Munster magic must be retained

ANOTHER Munster final passes, and with it, a sense of sadness. Its timing is always at the turn of the year, just after the summer solstice, with the evenings starting to close back on us again.

Thankfully the hurling season hasn’t yet peaked, but the annual battle for Munster is over, a battle that has been well joined, well spread out among the five protagonists, for the past decade especially, with Limerick, Clare, Cork, Tipp and lately, Waterford, all tasting success.

The Munster final is always a fantastic occasion. Sunday was no exception. Through Saturday and Sunday morning the buzz was building, the banter escalating, anticipation mounting. Early to the match, Páirc Uí Chaoimh looked resplendent, the new seating (adjusted, thankfully, after earlier complaints during the League) added colour to what had been a cold, grey uncovered stand area, the whole place was spotlessly clean. And then there was the pitch, absolutely magnificent, a perfectly-manicured sward.

The match? The major talking-point afterwards was the loss of so many Cork puck-outs in a second half dominated by Tipp. Much of the blame was laid at the door of keeper Donal Óg Cusack. Nonsense. Fact is, the Cork midfield and half-forwards went completely out of the game; fact is also, and credit where it’s due here, to a Tipp half-back line that was absolutely outstanding, to a midfielder, Paul Kelly, who had the game of his life, deservedly won man-of-the-match, even on a losing side.

The puck-out is a major factor in the new Cork game, which makes Cusack a pivotal figure. What must be understood here, however, he’s not on his own. You must have receivers, you must have runners; Cusack had neither.

As Corcoran, Fanning, Fitzgerald, all stepped forward in the Tipp half-back line, as Kelly boomed over point after point, what did the Cork sideline do, to remedy that fault? Took off the corner-back. Then, late in the game, they bring on Jonathan O’Callaghan, a superb ball-winning wing-forward, and stick him in the corner. They wait ‘til the 69th minute to bring on the biggest man they have, Kieran Murphy of Erin’s Own, a proven ball-winner, who responds with a late and valuable point.

No, lads, it wasn’t Cusack’s fault, it wasn’t the fault of the placed puck-out. How much talk was there afterwards of the fact that Tipperary keeper Brendan Cummins was booming the more traditional long balls down to the his half-forwards in the first half, but that those balls were being gobbled up by the Cork half-back line? Cusack did make mistakes, yes, but the bigger breakdown was in the landing area, the biggest fault on the sideline, where the reaction was too slow. Lessons learned, hopefully, by all sides.

More worryingly, there was also talk afterwards of why the Munster final wasn’t played at a venue with a bigger capacity, of the Munster Council perhaps taking a leaf from Ulster’s book, and taking the whole spectacle to Croke Park. Never. The Munster senior hurling final is an institution, an occasion as settled, as important, as Christmas. It’s much more than a match, it’s a day out, a weekend.

Doesn’t matter where it is, in Thurles, Cork, Limerick, Killarney; before the game, after the game, it’s a carnival, unique. You hope for a good game, always you hope, but it’s a bit like wine, you never know what sort of vintage you’re going to have until the first tasting. And isn’t that part of the fun, part of the mystique of the occasion? If you were guaranteed a classic every year, then by its very definition, it would soon become mundane, boring. No, you go in hope, but you take what you get.

Sure, the Munster Council would make more money; sure also, more fans would get to see the game. These are minor gains, however, in comparison to what would be lost. Talk to people in Kilkenny, in Wexford, in Offaly, about the Leinster hurling final, and they’ll tell you. Croke Park, Dublin, is most definitely not where it’s at. The fans go up late, they come home early, all of them heading in different directions. The quality of the hurling will often be superior, but never the actual occasion.

The Munster Final? I have long been an advocate here of a Premiership-type All-Ireland championship, with home-and-away fixtures involving all the top hurling teams. I accept, however, that this will never happen.

Failing that, then, the one thing, the only thing, worth preserving from the old format, is the Munster championship, the Munster final especially.

Long may it thrive.