Christy O'Connor: Limerick are still rolling out more blue-chip talent
On the day after last year’s All-Ireland final, Aisling O’Reilly from ‘Off the Ball’ interviewed Darragh O’Donovan at Pery Square in Limerick city, with O’Donovan’s reply to every question as honest and refreshing as it was colourful. After speaking about Jack Grealish and hoping for a Gucci sponsorship, O’Donovan promised to go “full demented”.
O’Donovan was completely uninhibited as he was enjoying himself but he also spoke with warmth and admiration and respect for his team-mates. Sitting beside David Reidy, with the younger brigade of Shane O’Brien, Adam English, Jimmy Quilty and Mark Quinlan behind him, much of O’Donovan’s praise was reserved for Cian Lynch.
“In 100 years time they’ll talk about Rackard, Mackey, Ring, Canning, Shefflin and Reid,” said O’Donovan. “But Cian Lynch, he’ll be top of that list.” Then O’Donovan turned his attention to the young crew directly behind him, singling out O’Brien. “The Bull O’Brien here, when this man gets going there’ll be no stopping him,” said O’Donovan. “I’m telling you here and now, this man is going to be one of the all-time greats.”
O’Brien had shown his immense talent with Ardscoil Rís but the first time the wider hurling public saw it was the night Limerick hammered Clare in the 2023 league in the Gaelic Grounds, when O’Brien was the best player on the field. He didn’t feature for Limerick again afterwards in 2023, while O’Brien faded from the radar again after getting sent off against Galway in the league in March.
Adam English was man-of-the-match in Salthill that afternoon and, while English looked the one young player primed to nail down a starting place, O’Brien edged back in front of him. After showcasing his class with 0-3 off the bench against Waterford, O’Brien displayed it in full again yesterday on his first start. As well as scoring 0-2, O’Brien set up two more points and was fouled for a converted free. Moreover, he was a constant long ball target.
Despite the Limerick underage production line appearing to have slowed down, Limerick are still rolling blue-chip talent off that line. And O’Brien is the latest diamond to shine on the big stage.
Less than an hour after the final whistle of the Leinster final on Saturday evening, the Kilkenny squad and backroom team reappeared on the Croke Park pitch for a group photo. There was some cheering and hollering, which is vastly different from when Kilkenny would win Leinster titles and be on the M50 not long after they’d showered.
After the high-drama of last year, when Kilkenny won the game with a last second goal that triggered mass euphoria, this was a return to the old days of Kilkenny hammering teams in a Leinster final, with a muted and low-key reaction at the final whistle.
The championship system is vastly different now, while Kilkenny no longer have the capacity to consistently crucify teams when they feel the urge, but they still have that weapon in their armoury when the opposition aren’t at the right mental pitch to repel it. This was the second time Kilkenny have brutalised Dublin in Leinster in the last three seasons, while they administered similar pain to Clare in the 2022 All-Ireland semi-final.
Dublin kept going and tried to hunt down some form of respectability but the scoreboard never hid the truth. Dublin only had six less shots (40-46) but their conversion rate was 48 per cent compared to Kilkenny’s 67 per cent.
Kilkenny were sharp and incisive and decisive, everything Dublin weren’t. Dublin needed to be slick and accurate and composed but they were anything but. In total, they turned over the ball a colossal 43 times, with a high percentage of that possession coughed up from unforced errors, aimless short passes and poor decision making. And Kilkenny ruthlessly punished them for that sloppiness, mining 1-18 off turnovers, 1-12 of which was scored in the first half. The other dominant theme of that first half was the display of Adrian Mullen, who scored 0-6 from six shots.
The game was over by half-time. Apart from Donal Burke, most of Dublin’s marquee forwards were ineffective. Even at that, Burke only scored one point from play but he was fouled for three converted frees and set up Mark Grogan’s late goal.
Kilkenny may not have won all of their recent provincial titles as easily as this, but they’re still consistently clocking them up, securing the five-in-a-row.
Same old, same old. Especially against Dublin.
At the outset of the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Joe McDonagh Cup final, Offaly looked in control when ahead by seven points. And then, in what seemed like a blink, they weren’t.
Laois began to hammer them on the second ball off their short puckout. Offaly were struggling to get around the Laois sweeper Ryan Mullaney. The only threat Offaly had up front for most of that fourth quarter was the outstanding Charlie Mitchel. Their young players were all cramping up. Offaly looked to have run out of gas and out of ideas as Laois came at them in waves.
Laois nailed four of their first five shots of that fourth quarter. As Laois gradually pared down the deficit to get level, the comparable shot count from the outset of the fourth quarter to the 70th minute was 12-5 in Laois’ favour.
It could have actually been worse for Offaly as Laois created three decent goal chances in that last quarter. Paddy Purcell grazed the crossbar when he should have gone low from close range. Their other two goal chances also ended in points with converted 65s but better decision making on the ball when there was a player in a better position closer to goal would have probably meant certain goals.
And then Offaly finally found something when the need was greatest. They converted three of their last four shots. Conversely, Laois failed to nail any of their last four shots, while it was always going to be difficult to manufacture anything off their last ’65.
Laois will look back with real regret, and anger too, when John Lennon was harshly pulled for taking too many steps (especially when others got away with taking far more) as he was about to pull the trigger for the equaliser in the 71st minute, which was compounded with Offaly scoring a point off that turnover.
Laois will be devastated to lose when they appeared to have all the momentum and energy at just the right time. They looked to have the experience off bench to finish it out too but some of those players weren’t clinical or decisive enough in their decision making. Offaly deserve huge credit for finding a way when it looked like they had lost their way. The experience of losing last year’s final in a frenetic ending really stood to them. Against Carlow last year, Offaly got the last four scores of normal time, before Carlow got the last two scores in extra-time to win.
Yet with the winning line in sight this time around, Offaly sprinted across it.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
