Christy O'Connor: Diarmaid Byrnes out on his own as greatest scoring defender
FISTS OF FURY: Diarmaid Byrnes of Limerick celebrates after the win over Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds. Picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
At the end of his man-of-the-match TV interview in front of the Mackey Stand, Diarmaid Byrnes shook his fist to the hordes of Limerick supporters gathered around him, which was probably a reflex reaction to the encircling giddiness, hype and excitement. After putting his award into a white box, Byrnes put the box under his arm and casually strolled through a corridor of Limerick fans on his way to the dressing-room.
It was another job well done by Byrnes but, while once again underlining his importance to this Limerick team, he also reached an important – but again unheralded milestone – in his career; Byrnes became the highest scoring defender in hurling history on Sunday.
The Patrickswell man went into the game level with Clare’s Seánie McMahon, who had hit 0-98 in an outstanding career between 1993-2006. Byrnes was on 1-95 but his 1-4 yesterday pushed him seven points clear, with years of potential to yet drive those numbers into stratospheric levels.
McMahon accumulated his total from 52 championship games while Byrnes has already amassed his tally from 36 matches. Numbers from the esteemed GAA statistican Leo McGough also showed how, prior to yesterday, there was only one point of a difference between Byrnes and McMahon across championship, league and Munster league, with McMahon having hit 1-203, and Byrnes on 1-202. McMahon though, had played 126 games to Byrnes 87, now 88.
Byrnes nailed 1-4 from seven shots but the timing and impact of those scores heavily contributed to Limerick’s victory. In the first minute of the second half, Byrnes won a Cork puckout, offloaded the ball to Cathal O’Neill before taking the return pass and driving it over. Five minutes later, Byrnes picked off a Patrick Collins free before lashing it back over the bar.
After nailing the penalty, Byrnes then iced a ’65 in the 70th minute, just four minutes after missing a free he’d have been expected to convert. Yesterday’s haul moved Byrnes into joint seventh in this year’s Munster championship table of top scorers, alongside Seamus Flanagan. Once again, he is the only defender in the top ten. Or anywhere close.
The game is unrecognisable from the past now. Scoring totals have gone through the roof but, what was considered rare and unique for McMahon two decades ago, has become regular and the norm for Byrnes now.
And now, he is out of his own as the greatest scoring defender of all time.
In recent years, no other manager has been as consistently honest and forthcoming in their post-match comments as Tony McEntee. After Sligo were beaten by Wexford in the 2021 Division 4 Shield final, McEntee’s interview with Ocean FM went to a new level in terms of honesty, especially in the context of modern-manager speak.
“The reality is that we play the game against Mayo and look forward to next year and plan for next year,” said McEntee. “That’s as much as we can look forward to at this stage. This year is a wash-out, it’s over now.”
McEntee was right - Mayo smashed Sligo by 20 points in the opening round of the Connacht championship. When McEntee was interviewed again after the Connacht final against Galway three weeks ago, he wasn’t as strong in his commentary, but he was just as straight. “The prize on offer now is a single win (in the round robin),” McEntee told Damien O’Meara.
That was the bottom line, which Sligo had targeted against Kildare last weekend, a game Sligo drew. With Dublin and Roscommon in that group, and with Kildare having to play their home game in Nowlan Park, that result (depending on scoring difference) may yet be enough for Sligo.
One of the main themes of the new round robin is how some teams have identified one game – and that one precious win – as their ticket out of the group. And most of those games have taken place on the opening day of the group; Clare-Donegal, Sligo-Kildare, Cork-Louth. Wins for Donegal and Cork has put them in a good position, while Sligo and Kildare got a valuable point as both won’t fear Roscommon.
Westmeath may have finished 13 places behind Armagh in the league but they had clearly targeted Saturday as their potential ticket out of the group.
Westmeath played really well and will have huge regrets, while this was absolute get-out-of-jail territory for Armagh in their own backyard. The devastation of losing an Ulster final on penalties was bound to leave a hangover but Armagh were so flat, passive and devoid of energy for so much of this game that they went perilously close to potentially writing off their summer.
Armagh needed a late fortuitous goal from Conor Turbitt but, on the other hand, after having just a 50% conversion rate in the first half, Armagh’s conversion rate after the break was 87%. It doesn’t matter how you win, as long as you win. Bottom line.
Mattie Kenny and Greg Kennedy probably didn’t thank their captain for it at the time but, a few days after Dublin knocked Galway out of the 2019 hurling championship, Chris Crummey revealed how fired up Kenny and Kennedy were for the final Leinster round robin game against their own county that summer.
“The week of the game you could sort of see how pumped Mattie and Greg were,” said Crummey. “I think they probably wanted to beat their home county even more because there was so much at stake. They were just that bit more on edge going into the game.”
Kenny was a huge talking point before that match because he coached a number of those Galway players during his time under Anthony Cunningham’s management in 2012 and 2013. Kenny had also worked with a raft of other Galway players through his involvement with the 2011 All-Ireland U21 winning team. Kenny and Micheál Donoghue were involved with the management for Galway’s 2005 All-Ireland U21 success.
Kenny made failed bids for the Galway manager’s job in 2014 and 2015, with Donoghue taking over from Cunningham after that season. Donoghue led Galway to a first All-Ireland title in 29 years in 2017 but, four years after facing Dublin in that 2019 qualifier, Donoghue found himself in a similar place to where Kenny was back then.
Donoghue is an extremely professional and driven individual who desperately wanted to beat Galway and advance to a Leinster final. But the dynamic would still have been different to what it would have been with Kenny because the Galway players had - and still have - such a close and fond relationship with Donoghue, and what he achieved with those players.
When Shane O’Neill stepped away in 2021 and before Henry Shefflin was appointed, the players had looked for Donoghue to return for a second stint in the job. The dynamic was even more unique with Donoghue having his two right-hand men in Galway – Franny Forde and Noel Larkin – beside him now in Dublin. Just as Donoghue was and still is, Forde and Larkin will always have a special place in the hearts of the majority of these Galway players.
There’s no doubt that the Donoghue/Forde/Larkin dynamic was seriously at play yesterday for both sides. For a start, the three men know these Galway players inside out, especially their strengths and weaknesses. Did the Galway players’ knowledge of that insight, and the presence of Donoghue, Forde and Larkin on the sideline with Dublin spook Galway in the first half?
Possibly.
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