Tipp and Cats set to dominate for years?
On November 12, 1905 on Jones Road, Cork and London squared off for the third consecutive year, and similar to tomorrow’s showdown, the score stood at one title apiece from the previous two seasons. That the teams were contesting the 1903 decider hints at the scheduling difficulties that ensued in those days yet it was Cork who rounded off that trilogy on a triumphant note. A thumping 3-16 to 1-1 win, since you’re asking.
That it’s taken over a century for another trilogy of consecutive finals illustrates both the difficulty in achieving that level of consistency and the chasm that exists between tomorrow’s protagonists and the rest of the counties in the Liam MacCarthy Cup race.
Kilkenny and Tipperary have achieved a level of such prowess that there has been an air of inevitability about them locking horns in September from the start of the 2011 championship.
That was partly fuelled by a desire amongst the hurling populace for a repeat of the last two year’s epic finals and also a realisation that their personnel reserves, physical conditioning and speed at implementing a gameplan are superior to everyone else. It begs the question as to whether this cartel will continue to dominate and does tomorrow represents not the end of a trilogy, but the continuation of a series? Is this their hurling world and the rest of us just live in it?
From Tipperary’s viewpoint, they do not appear to be sated by last September’s triumph. Older heads like Brendan Cummins and Eoin Kelly are determined to keep thriving after seasons spent in the doldrums.
Younger players like Padraic Maher and Noel McGrath are on course to dominate the game. And Lar Corbett is intent on obliterating all goalscoring records. The transition from the Sheedy era to the Ryan era has been seamless, facilitated by the effectiveness of Tommy Dunne and Cian O’Neill on the training ground.
Across the border, any doubts about Kilkenny’s ability to reinvent themselves have been shredded this year. The strength of their response to the Croke Park defeats last September and last May has been telling. Michael Fennelly has become the leading midfielder in the country.
Youngsters like Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly have helped revitalise the setup. Stars like Tommy Walsh and Henry Shefflin look rejuvenated.
What of the beaten dockets from 2011? Where are the grounds of optimism to nourish their hopes over the winter and coax them back to the coalface next January? Dublin have most reason to feel pleased about themselves after a season of genuine development and with a well-oiled production line churning out talent. The task for Anthony Daly is to build on this campaign and unearth a goal-poacher up front.
Waterford will hope all that resilience and work ethic will finally deliver silverware. Limerick will hope O’Grady stays on and that year two unfolds as smoothly as year one. Clare will hope all those underage nuggets transform into senior gems. Cork will hope because of JBM. Galway will hope that there will eventually be clarity to a sequence of mystifying collapses.
Wexford, Offaly, Antrim, Laois, Westmeath and Carlow will simply hope. But they will all begin the 2012 season amongst the chasing pack. Irrespective of the result tomorrow, the Big Two’s prospects over the next five years are extremely healthy. It’s up to everyone else to bridge the gap and challenge them.
EXPERT VIEW: John Conlon, Clare
I THINK there’s been a big difference this year in Tipperary’s attitude after winning the All-Ireland last September. There’s been an increase in the levels of belief and confidence in their team. When we played them in the Munster semi-final in the Gaelic Grounds in June, we got off to a perfect start and went ahead 1-3 to 0-0 early on.
But it never bothered them. They settled down and put a run of scores together to get back into the game. They’re unstoppable when they got going and you saw that as well in the Munster final when they blew Waterford off the field. Everyone’s talking about their attack but they’ve some serious defenders. I marked Padraic Maher in the Munster semi-final and he’s had an incredible year. I think he’s the front runner for Hurler of the Year.
The All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin probably showed how mature Tipp have become. Things weren’t going as well for them in that game and a few years ago they probably would have lost that kind of game. But by still managing to get the win, they proved how much they’ve progressed.
That Dublin game was interesting in that it demonstrated how teams can stop Tipperary scoring goals. Dublin played a sweeper in defence and only conceded one goal, whereas in the Munster championship, ourselves, Cork and Waterford went man to man and got caught.
Will Kilkenny then play an extra man in defence tomorrow? I don’t think so. Brian Cody is confident in the abilities of each of his defenders and I’d expect him to go with the six backs named to try to stop the Tipperary attack.
The biggest thing in Kilkenny’s favour this year is that there’s no doubt about Henry Shefflin’s fitness. He’s the leader of their pack and is a massive addition.
It’s a hard game to call. You’ve the two best teams in the country, brimming with confidence. I’m looking forward to heading up to it and I’d have a feeling Tipperary will shade it. They haven’t put a foot wrong in the defence of their title and deserve to be favourites.
IN MY DAY: Conal Bonnar, Tipperary, 1991
I REMEMBER hearing former Kilkenny hurler John Henderson say stepping into a dressing room after winning an inter-county championship match with his brothers, was like going into the back kitchen at home. It’s a brilliant description of what it’s like experiencing a big win when your family are your teammates.
I can relate to it as in 1989 and 1991, I got to experience that with my brothers Colm and Cormac. Our family have always been close and the hurling kept us closer. The three of us would be meeting up regularly and the rest of the family would see each other as a result at matches. The victories were real family occasions.
The 1991 victory was huge for us as a team as we needed to win a second All-Ireland to prove we were a good team. In many ways that year could be regarded as the complete package in terms of the counties we beat. In Munster we defeated two of our biggest rivals in Limerick and Cork, then we beat a Galway team that had dominated hurling during the 80s and rounded it off by defeating Kilkenny.
After 1989, it was constantly thrown at us we’d only beaten Antrim, despite the fact that was a very good team. We needed to prove ourselves in 1991.
It was a very tight and tense match, there was no real flow to it. People say Michael Cleary’s goal was the turning point, but I thought the few key points we hit before half-time were critical. We won a brilliant Munster final that year but in the dressing room after the match, Babs (Keating) immediately spoke about the importance of the All-Ireland. Not winning the Liam MacCarthy wasn’t an option.
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