Can Limerick rise to the occasion?

MUNSTER SHC SEMI-FINAL:

Both were born in the same year in the early 1940s. Both have endured — the operative word, in Kilmallock Man’s case — wildly different experiences supporting their county in the meantime.

Kilmacow Man has had it pretty handy. Not a lot to crow about as a child, and he was a teenager when, after two decades of near-famine, Kilkenny returned to prominence under Fr Tommy Maher in 1957. But they’ve stayed there ever since, and Kilmacow Man has enjoyed — again, the operative word — umpteen great days out. He wasn’t in Croke Park in ’57 but he was there in 1963 to watch Seamus Cleere hoist the silverware and he’s been there for every Noreside triumph since. That’s 20 All-Ireland triumphs he’s witnessed in person.

Really, there ought to be a law against it.

Kilmallock Man, on the other hand. One unforgettable day 41 years ago watching Eamon Grimes hoist the silverware and even then, he got soaked. But all too few sunlit afternoons like last July in the Gaelic Grounds in the meantime, unfortunately. Henry Martin captured it perfectly in the title of his book on Limerick hurling. Unlimited Heartbreak.

Kilmallock Man assumed at the time that 1973 would be the start of something big; he’s still not quite sure why it wasn’t. He’s always argued that 1994, had Limerick held out for another five minutes, might have been the start of something too. And he’s never been able to work out why, and why so frequently, Limerick keep losing their managers (see panel below).

If he ever goes on Mastermind, it’ll be his specialist subject: Limerick Hurling Managers of the Past 15 Years and What Happened to Them. But hey, it’s another Munster championship and it’s Thurles tomorrow and hope springs eternal, and our man will make the pilgrimage as he’s been doing for the past 50 years, albeit these days with more fatalism than hope in his heart.

He’s nervous about a couple of things, though, and it’s nothing to do with recent managerial ruaille buaille. First of all, he’s worried about Limerick’s prospects of hitting the ground running.

They haven’t had a competitive outing since March 30, whereas Tipp were still going hammer and tongs in extra-time in the league final on May 4. That match, he reckons, was worth a fortnight’s training to them.

Also, he watched Sunday’s game and for 50 minutes he saw Waterford make Cork look what they were: a team from a lower division struggling to get to the pitch of things. That could easily be his boys tomorrow and that’s his big fear. Start badly and it’ll quickly be downhill from there. If Tipperary build up an early lead, that’ll be that. The ballplayers will come out to play and Limerick will be riddled from all angles.

Then there’s the memory of events in the same fixture two years ago when Limerick started well but Tipp threw on Patrick Maher at the midway stage and he changed everything. It’s been a long time since Kilmallock Man has seen a centre-forward who’s simultaneously and paradoxically as limited and as effective as Maher. He racked his brains the other night to think of who Maher reminded him of and finally he got it. Brendan Lynskey.

At least Limerick know — as indicated by TJ Ryan’s comments in the paper the other day — how influential Maher can be, he reassures himself. In order to stymie Maher, he expects them to have one of the midfielders lying back almost on top of the Lorrha man, with instructions to pull early and pull often, and try and ensure Maher doesn’t get the ball into his hand.

He’s discomfited by the progress Tipperary have made lately, the way they’ve gone about reinventing themselves. A year or two ago, he reckoned they were so flaky they might be mistaken for a new brand of breakfast cereal. Not any more.

They did the better hurling in the league final last month and were unfortunate in the extreme. Kilmallock Man was taken with Niall O’Meara up front that day, and he noted John O’Dwyer’s 1-3, and he hasn’t forgotten that O’Dwyer posted the same tally when coming on against Limerick last summer. And Tipp are not going to blanch in the last quarter for a second year in succession. Not at Semple Stadium.

Still, he has grounds for optimism. For every three matches Tipperary have won in the history of the fixture, Limerick have won two, which isn’t a bad starting point. And the XV the visitors have opted for tomorrow is hardy and experienced and doesn’t contain a single newcomer who might be open to exploitation. Declan Hannon, Kevin Downes and the rest of them are no longer kids.

Under John Allen last year, Limerick played a calculated and deliberately phased 20-man game, throwing in the same subs at the same junctures for maximum effect. This time around they’ve packed the half-forward line with sharpshooters and are clearly going for broke.

Fortune favours the brave sometimes. Heaven knows, Kilmallock Man deserves some of it tomorrow.

For the second year in succession Galway travel to Portlaoise to take on the hosts in the Leinster championship. What will we be able to infer from the result? Easy one. Absolutely nothing. This is Galway, after all.

Last year they laboured horribly against Laois before eventually struggling home by a highly flattering seven-point margin. That set the scene for defeat in the Leinster final and a dismal display against Clare in the All-Ireland quarter-final. But two years ago Galway conceded four goals to Westmeath and only a few weeks later — this is Galway, after all — beat Kilkenny out the gate in a provincial final.

With Laois lining out for a fifth weekend in succession, the floor is Galway’s to make the right sort of statement rather than the wrong sort of statement.

We can just about trust them to do that. Can’t we?