Hurling is not new to formidable and frightening sights but...

There is not a more formidable and frightening sight in hurling at the moment than that of the Limerick defence tossing the sliotar around to one another as they prowl forward

Sat, 08 Apr, 2023 - 07:10

Enda McEvoy

Maybe the quote is apocryphal. Maybe it was uttered by one of Ben Hogan’s victims during his 1950s pomp. Maybe it was the voicework of Hubert Green, third on -1 to Tom Watson (-12) and Jack Nicklaus (-11) as they duelled in the sun at Turnberry in 1977. Maybe a golfing hurler, or a hurling golfer, could help us out.

Anyway. “I won the tournament I was playing in.”

At any rate, the speaker was not one of the myriad victims of John Kiely’s Limerick. Well, not yet, but three competitions involving their participation remain to be completed this year. Plenty of time.

Right now only one caveat surrounds a league and championship double. They’re too sharp too early.

Midway through the second half at the Gaelic Grounds a fortnight ago William O’Donoghue caressed a ten-metre pass first time off the stick, through a lane in the traffic, to Cathal O’Neill, who transferred to Colin Coughlan, who pointed. This was June hurling, smooth and precision-tooled, not end-of-March hurling.

A caveat, then, albeit a small one, because Paul Kinnerk has had the troops pitch-perfect for every big championship outing since 2018. Boots on the ground, bringing the noise, every day that mattered. Do you really think he’s going to start getting it wrong now?

What’s more, the group’s evolution has yet to encounter a hiatus. Look at the turnaround, even allowing for the strength of the wind, against Tipperary.

The post-restart surge, the spread of scorers, the eight points from eight shots until Cian Lynch dropped one short. The Limerick of a couple of years ago would have driven three if not four of those efforts wide. Not that it would have mattered in the end; they’d simply have reloaded and continued shooting until enough of them did go over.

They didn’t register their first wide of the half until the 61st minute and even then it was a ball that Donnacha Ó Dalaigh was unable to prevent spilling out over the endline, as opposed to a shot that went astray.

The input-to-output ratio, then, has changed and changed for the better, as well it might. All those games, all those victories. Practice and success breeding accuracy, confidence, patience, the works.

Hurling is not new to formidable and frightening sights.

The Wexford team of the 1950s, the finest cohort of big, handsome men imaginable to the spectators of the age.

Any Cork forward line with Christy Ring in it.

The Tipperary forward line of 1964-65.

The Tipperary back line of 1964-65.

The Kilkenny of 2006-09 sensing blood.

There is not a more formidable and frightening sight in hurling at the moment than that of the Limerick defence tossing the sliotar around to one another as they prowl forward, riders on the storm. Kiely’s team have created their own killing zone, one farther out the field than any killing zone encountered in the sport before.

Cody’s Kilkenny? The last 30 metres of the pitch. Lorry the ball in any oul’ way, no messing, and let Eddie Brennan et al do the rest.

The Tipperary of the 2010s? Up to 60 metres out from the opposition posts. Up step Callanan and Bubbles and Noel McGrath to switch on the radar and work their thang. Hips don’t lie. Wrists don’t lie.

Limerick’s party piece is to create a platform on their half-back line and recycle possession in various directions until the shooter – it may be Barry Nash barrelling out from the corner, it may be Declan Hannon waiting his moment to vacate the centre, it may be one of the half-forwards – is in position, locked and loaded.

Here’s another quote, this one about the outcome of last year’s All-Ireland final. “A two-point hammering.” Beautifully put. Who says men in pubs don’t talk sense? And get this: the speaker was from Clara, not Castleconnell.

If the favourites require a minor incentive in Sunday's Allianz League final, it’s to ensure the scoreboard at the final whistle reads the way it might well have read last July, with Limerick seven or eight points ahead. That they don’t need to send a message to Kilkenny in the way they needed to send a message to Tipp doesn’t mean they won’t try to. Just because. Just business.

On everything we’ve seen from them of late, not least their earlier state of battle readiness, they’re determined to turn 2023 into a procession. No more Mr Nice Guy. Shock and awe. Winners from trap to line. Let’s make it a self-fulfilling prophecy and have the other crowd beaten not at half-time, not ten minutes into the second half, but before they take the field.

Limerick also possess an advantage possessed by all teams who comfortably lead the pack in their respective sports. No longer obliged to fret about their own game plan, they enjoy the luxury of being able to bolt on bespoke extras depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.

One obvious priority for them here will entail confining Padraig Walsh to his corner and making sure he doesn’t think he’s Barry Nash.

In terms of guidance, Kilkenny couldn’t be in better hands. Long groomed for the job, Derek Lyng may have been one of the captains in Cody’s household guard but that doesn’t mean he’s tethered to the hurling of a decade ago. Michael Rice is a future manager; probably not the next guy after Lyng but maybe the guy after that.

And Peter Barry was, even more so than Lyng, the ultimate Cody player. White collar Monday to Friday, blue-collar on Sundays. Smart and ambitious and determined. The ideal son-in-law off the field; would ate you without salt on it.

For these reasons and a host of others, Kilkenny could ship a beating Sunday and move on without trauma. Nor, much as they can’t acknowledge this, is there anything more than the usual pressure on Lyng and his lieutenants to win an All-Ireland during their three-year term. Their job is to lay the foundations for their immediate successor to win an All-Ireland.

Some other observations.

As was widely forecast a fortnight ago, Cork took their cue at Nowlan Park from the outcome in the Gaelic Grounds the previous evening. Their conquerors were not subjected to the kind of full-cavity search required to temper them for Sunday's task.

It is inconceivable that Kilkenny will win without scoring three goals. It is inconceivable that Limerick will allow them to do so.

On this basis our old friend No Goals may make a return, although in view of the form the MacCarthy Cup holders are in you wouldn’t put it past them to go for an early uppercut and thereby euthanise the proceedings before the end of the opening quarter.

William O’Donoghue. His absence won’t alter the outcome but it will at least offer the underdogs greater prospects of a midfield foothold.

Martin Keoghan. He doesn’t score many points, he’s not a presence around the square but he hits the net too often for coincidence.

Kilkenny being weaker than they were the last time the sides met, the margin ought to be greater than two points, with Limerick prodding their opponents into a stupor with those shafts from long range.

On which note Andrea Mantegna, the early Renaissance master, did a couple of paintings of Saint Sebastian being turned into a pin cushion. Forthcoming opponents of the All-Ireland champions may wish to google his work. Then again, they may not.

Kilkenny? They’ll win the tournament they’ve played in. They probably won’t be the last team this year to do that.