Plenty movers, but Tipp still the market leaders

HOW quickly the world can be turned on its head!

For the last two years it seemed like all of hurling was bemoaning the fact that the All-Ireland championship had become a two-horse race, that Kilkenny, with all its consecutive senior titles, all its continued dominance at underage, looked set to maintain its number one position, and that only Tipperary looked likely to contest.

Now, on the longest (if not the brightest) days of the summer of 2011, where are we?

Yes, Tipperary and Kilkenny are still the duo to beat, albeit with the order reversed from two years ago. But now, and even in their own provincial finals, we can look forward to seeing both of them seriously tested.

Under Anthony Daly, Dublin have begun to deliver on the rich promise of the last few years and are beginning to see the reward from all the investment and all the hard work of the last decade.

They have beaten Kilkenny in two finals this year, the Walsh Cup and Allianz Hurling League. They crushed the challenge of Galway in the Leinster semi-final on Saturday evening and will offer a serious test to the Cats on July 3rd.

One week later, All-Ireland champions Tipperary will step out in Páirc Uí Chaoimh against Waterford — the Munster champions.

The Déise are better this year than last, with a deeper pool, and some outstanding talent after stepping forward.

Seven points was the margin of victory for Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final last year. It should be a lot closer this time round.

“You look at Davy (Fitzgerald, Waterford manager),” says Daly, “He took over in the middle of a turbulent season (2008) and got Waterford to an All-Ireland final. That went wrong for them but he went about reconstructing that team and he’s done a great job, brought in a host of young lads and blended them in with the Mullanes and the Molumphys. He has a few things still to sort out, no more than the rest of us – even Tipp had to take off two defenders and a forward on Sunday against Clare.

“Everyone has problems, we’re all trying to get them sorted out, but Davy has done a great job with Waterford.”

Before those finals, however, look at what else awaits us over the coming few weeks. Cork/Offaly on Saturday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh should be a comfortable home win, and Antrim should take Carlow, though you never can tell in sport and hurling can be especially volatile. A week later, and on the day before the Leinster final, the beaten provincial semi-finalists square off with Galway meeting Clare in Pearse Stadium and Wexford travelling to the Gaelic Grounds to take on Limerick. What’s not to like about those two games?

“I wasn’t surprised by the performances of either Clare or Limerick,” says Daly. “There’s too much made of the Division One/Division Two divide. I know Clare are mad keen to get up to Division One but championship hurling is a different animal and I found that on Saturday, there was far more intensity in that game than even in the (Division One) league final.

“Being in Division Two may not have been the worst thing in the world for either Clare or Limerick, it gave them a chance to settle on a team, albeit not against top opposition.

“There’s a decent production line of talent in both counties at the minute, the likes of Conor McGrath — to take that goal the way he did, go in with a ball like that in the first minute against a keeper like Brendan Cummins and score, that was impressive.

“Then you have Conlon, Honan, Cooney, Dillon, O’Connell from the All-Ireland U21 winning team, all playing well.

“Limerick too have some great talent coming through, Downes, Tobin, Mulcahy, great pace and movement in their attack – it looked like they had it won against Waterford but were caught out in the end by that bit of inexperience. For both of those counties there’s great hope going forward, but people have to be patient. It seems to be that everyone is looking for instant gratification these days, but maybe the changed times will also change attitudes.”

Then you look further down the road again, the winners of those games taking on Cork/Offaly or Antrim/Carlow, and the winners there to face the losers of the provincial finals – again, what’s not to like?

Tipperary and Kilkenny will be favoured to be in the All-Ireland semi-finals as provincial champions, and rightly so, but should that be the case they will then face two teams that will be truly battle-hardened, tails up – at this remove, would you put your house on it being another Tipp/Kilkenny All-Ireland final?

Would you even put your house on Tipp and Kilkenny winning their provincial finals?

Fasten your safety belts, ladies and gentlemen, we could be about to encounter some turbulence!