Kilkenny well aware of pre-final knocks as Cian Lynch set for the sidelines this weekend
INJURY BLOW: Limerick's Cian Lynch. ©INPHO/Evan Treacy
Limerick had until 9am this morning to register their 26-man panel to Croke Park thereby confirming if Cian Lynch would be fit to play a part in Sunday’s All-Ireland final having suffered an ankle injury last weekend.
The Patrickswell star wouldn’t be the first hurler of the year to suffer a setback ahead of an All-Ireland final. In fact, so many of the difficulties in the advent of hurling’s big day these last 20 years have befallen Limerick’s opponents on Sunday, Kilkenny:
Not only did the Young Irelands man play against Offaly in the final with a muscle problem he had sustained in training in Nowlan Park the Sunday previous, it was later revealed Carey had broken a bone in his left foot in the first half when he tussled for a ball with Hubert Rigney. Despite the problem, Carey saw out the entire game, shooting five points as Offaly avenged their Leinster final defeat to the Cats. Earlier in the year, Carey had announced his retirement from the game citing a lack of appetite but reversed his decision six weeks later. In 2002, Carey had recovered from a car crash to sparkle in the All-Ireland semi-final and final clashes with Tipperary and Clare and picked up his ninth and final All-Star.
News of Delaney’s cruciate injury in training 16 days out from that year’s All-Ireland final against Cork was everywhere by the time Brian Cody paid homage to his defender in the final press evening. "I have never seen a better defender than JJ Delaney, never, ever. "Given the circumstances the Cats' manager felt no need to disguise his admiration and paid Delaney the ultimate tribute. He would have been at the very top in any era, any generation, I mean that, very definitely. He has got everything a player needs to get to the very top." There had been only a couple of minutes remaining in the training game when Delaney went to stop a shot and his left leg jammed in the ground as he body moved the other way. He returned to action the following January.
The greatest All-Ireland final “will he, won’t he”. Having ruptured a cruciate ligament, Shefflin did all that he could to be fit for Kilkenny’s five-in-a-row tilt and was named in the team along with John Tennyson who had missed the semi-final win over Cork with a similar setback. Shefflin was replaced in the semi-final after 27 minutes and lasted 12 minutes in the final when his knee broke down. Tennyson played the full 70-plus minutes. "It was never a question of taking a gamble, or of making a final call," Cody insisted afterwards. "Henry and John were being treated by Ger Hartmann. I had personally seen the work they were doing and it was just extraordinary stuff. You wonder how they could do it when they were injured.” Incidentally, 2009 hurler of the year Tommy Walsh had also suffered a shoulder injury in the semi-final but was fine by the final.
His younger brother Colin had been Kilkenny’s big injury scare going into the final but as it turned out the most in-form hurler at the time was in more bother. Both siblings started, Colin scoring a couple of points and Michael an excellent goal before half-time to help Kilkenny into a 1-8 to 0-6 lead before they eventually ran out handsome winners. As Fennelly explained after the game: “Last Wednesday week I had a hamstring strain and didn’t train at all. I was getting frustrated and couldn’t puck around. I was back last Friday and had a few pucks. That was it. It was like my year in general, before the Wexford and Dublin games, I didn’t train at all, but lucky enough I hurled all right.”
The James Brown of hurling, because of a chronic back issue Hogan was unable to stand properly never mind play up to two days before the final victory over Waterford when he scored five points from play. “I couldn’t walk last Friday,” he said at the time. “I had a prolapsed disc and I had damage to a couple of joints, so I got a few injections and a week’s rest, a bit of physio and stuff like that. It was great to get back. I didn’t think I’d be playing up until maybe Friday when I was feeling a little bit better. It’s huge credit to the medical staff there as well. Everybody only sees what happens on the field.” Hogan was again shortlisted for hurler of the year and earned his third of four All-Stars.
As if Hogan’s woes weren’t enough for Kilkenny, James Stephens’ man Larkin busted his thumb in a training game in Fota Island a couple of weeks before the final. As he recalled: “Michael Fennelly. I was saying that if he was training all year he would have gotten rid of the ball. I wouldn’t have got near him to hook him. I just went in to hook him, went in a bit far. I knew I was in trouble as soon as it happened.” Larkin’s thumb was nine days in a cast and it was only taken off on the Tuesday before the game in which he posted a couple of points. This followed a groin problem and glandular fever earlier in the year which prompted him to temporarily leave the squad in disillusionment.
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