It wasn't about Limerick showing their brilliance, rather their greatness

The weekend's GAA talking points

5 June 2022; Limerick captain Declan Hannon lifts the Mick Mackey cup after the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Final match between Limerick and Clare at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles, Tipperary. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Behold Limerick’s finest hour under John Kiely 

A 14-match unbeaten championship run, four provincial titles in a row, 140 minutes away from a third consecutive MacCarthy Cup – yet nothing this Limerick group have achieved together has redounded as much to their credit as what they accomplished yesterday. Put to the pin of their collar by opponents who simply weren’t interested in taking no for an answer they reached into their marrow and came up with an unimpeachable response. The finest champions always do.

Serial winners are by their very nature not in the business of being likeable. Limerick’s 2020 All Ireland triumph against Waterford was a little too sterile and calculated to warm neutral hearts, their 2021 triumph against Cork far too comprehensive to have stirred in the non-aligned viewer any emotion stronger than a degree of detached admiration. Here it was entirely different. It wasn’t about Kiely’s team showing their brilliance; it was about them showing their greatness.

As if Clare weren’t already serving it up to them in spades they didn’t make it easy on themselves either, particularly not when starting the second half with four wides on the trot. (One reason why the contest, gripping though it was, will not rank in the absolute top drawer of Munster finals was the inaccuracy of both sides on the resumption, which served to suck a lot of air out of the room following an absorbing first half of ceaseless intensity.) And Diarmaid Byrnes, of all people, had a ‘mare of an afternoon on the frees.

The favourites’ stamina and conditioning held up, however, and the intervention of their subs – the wiles of Graeme Mulcahy, the 0-1 apiece from Conor Boylan and David Reidy - helped see them through at the death. If Clare produced a big knife Limerick, like Mick Dundee, had an even bigger one.

Enda McEvoy 

Clare must not look back in frustration 

Great champions deserve great challengers, which is precisely what Limerick got here. Short of winning the match Clare couldn’t have done any more than they did. If there was any question as to their status as the second best team in the country it has been banished. If there was even the remotest doubt regarding their being an outfit crafted in the craggy likeness of their manager it no longer exists.

Choose whichever metric you wish, the numbers on the scoreboard apart, and the underdogs were the equal of their opponents. Tony Kelly’s sideline cut to send proceedings to extra time will be recalled for generations to come, yet the incident that led to it shouldn’t be forgotten: Shane O’Donnell, not exactly the Charles Atlas of Ennis, horsed Barry Nash out over the whitewash to give Kelly his opportunity. The job of taking on Limerick is multi-faceted and starts with a physical battle no challenger can afford to lose. O’Donnell’s lust for war demonstrated how finely prepared Clare were for the assignment.

The small moments that went wrong will irk them. Their tally of eight wides in the first half was at least four too many; a four- or five-point interval advantage wouldn’t have flattered their efforts and would have constituted money in the bank.

But lamenting the if-onlys is ever a futile exercise, particularly with another match on the horizon. Getting themselves into the zone for the Munster final was one thing. After yesterday, getting themselves into the zone for an All-Ireland quarter-final will be a rather more difficult requirement. We can be sure Brian Lohan will not allow them indulge in self-pity. Next ball!
Enda Mcevoy

 

Is this to be the summer’s trilogy?

After yesterday’s Munster final the crowds were slow enough to disperse.

Understandable. They’d just witnessed a stunning 90 minutes-plus of entertainment, one of the great Munster finals, and didn’t want to leave the stage.

Yet there may be another instalment in this rivalry. Depending on results, Clare and Limerick may meet again.

The first game, in Ennis, ended level, 0-24 to 1-21, just a few weeks ago. Yesterday ended level at 70 minutes as well, and it took 20 minutes of extra time to separate the sides. All depending on the twists and turns of the championship, we could see them meet later in the year, as suggested by Limerick captain Declan Hannon when accepting the cup (the Mick Mackey Cup, by the way, the new trophy being presented for the first time).

Even as the final whistle was still almost audible in the air in Semple Stadium, the questions started coming. What have Clare learned? What have Limerick learned? What will Limerick do if they see Tony Kelly again? What will Clare do when they see Seamus Flanagan again? Are there surprises to come from either bench? Would Cian Lynch tip the balance if he recovers?

A classic just finished, and another day already on the horizon.

Michael Moynihan 

Cody v Shefflin still no great shakes 

Try as they might, former Kilkenny players aren’t going to wish away the tensions between their great manager and great team-mate. “And there’s a lovely touch,” said RTÉ Sunday Game panellist Jackie Tyrrell as their pictures captured Henry Shefflin walking to Brian Cody and shaking his hand. “Just to see two lads who have soldiered for so many years together…” 

It was at this point that anchor Joanne Cantwell interrupted and countered that “it didn’t look all that lovely, Jackie”, which was a more accurate reflection of what we all saw. 

Tyrrell maintained it was “better than nothing”, while on Twitter his and Cody’s James Stephens team-mate Eoin Larkin was questioning why so much was being made of it. “There’s a winner, there’s a loser,” he posted. “There’s a handshake most of the time. Just leave it at that. Stop making out it’s something it’s not.” 

We doth think Larkin protests too much. Clearly, there are differences between the two men and so long as they keep showing it, it’s going to be a story. At least former GAA president Nickey Brennan, who now contributes to Kilkenny Community Radio, last week called for the two to make peace but it remains an uneasy version and a debate that has caused division and rankle in Kilkenny.

John Fogarty 

McGeeney’s giant-killing act long overdue 

IT’S a matter of debate when it comes to Kieran McGeeney’s Championship record, that even the wins in the backdoor were of huge value. The most eye-catching to date was a win over Monaghan in 2019 which happened to be Malachy O’Rourke’s last day on the line for the Oriel county, and they had been in an All-Ireland semi-final the year before. Apart from that, the only other wins over opposition who finished that year’s league above them were against Clare and Tipperary, but you won’t hear many in Armagh crowing about that.

But this! This, against the All-Ireland champions, as short and dysfunctional as they have been this year, means something else entirely for this Armagh team. And the Armagh support will soon get mobilised, especially after this crowd of 16,292.

There is still some silly talk about them too.

After the game, Armagh coach Kieran Donaghy spoke of his delight on the result for McGeeney, stating, “So delighted for them, delighted for Kieran McGeeney, as a manager, the work he’s put into this group from where they came from eight years ago.” 

Presumably McGeeney took over a team then pitched somewhere between the Dog and Duck and a particularly social group of Junior B footballers, just out for some fresh air and a few hours away from the infants. So where was that, exactly, in 2014?

A quarter-final defeat to Donegal at Croke Park by a single point. They haven’t come anywhere as close as that since.

Declan Bogue