Clare and Limerick veterans are Munster hurling's most familiar foes
LAST DANCE? Limerick’s Diarmaid Byrnes and Peter Duggan of Clare collide in Ennis two years ago. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
It’s an age-old rivalry but in many ways than one.
Clare and Limerick come together in Ennis on Sunday for the latest episode in what may quite possibly be hurling’s greatest rivalry performed by the oldest players.
This clash marks their eighth Munster SHC meeting in five seasons with the record reading four for Limerick, including three consecutive Munster finals, two for Clare, one of their wins being the dead rubber last year, and one draw. It’s a contest chiselled by familiarity and sanded by bragging rights exchanges.
From the Clare-Limerick meeting in the inaugural Munster SHC group format championship in 2018, six started for The Banner in the win over Waterford – Conor Cleary, Cathal Malone, Peter Duggan, Tony Kelly, David Reidy and Shane O’Donnell.
In Cork, Limerick had seven survivors – Nickie Quaid, Seán Finn, Mike Casey, Diarmaid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes, Cian Lynch and Gearóid Hegarty.
Thirteen of the current Clare panel are 30 or over this year, one less than Limerick’s total. Nine of them were in from the off against Waterford last Sunday week, three of them among the substitutes. David McInerney, 34 later this year, was not involved.
Limerick also had nine men about to be 30 or over beginning the defeat to Cork last Sunday. Four of them are named on the bench and Aaron Gillane, who is 30 in 2026, was sidelined with a calf injury.
No other great recent rivalries compare. When Kilkenny and Tipperary’s intense era concluded in 2016 (eight SHC meetings in as many seasons), only Eoin Larkin and Shane Prendergast were 30 or over on The Cats team, while Darren Gleeson was the sole thirtysomething on the winning side.
Cork and Tipperary’s 1992 Munster semi-final was their last SHC meeting for eight years and the last of nine provincial clashes in eight seasons. That year, all but four of Cork’s side were in their 20s – Ger Cunningham, Seán O’Gorman, Denis Mulcahy and Kevin Hennessy. It was more or less the same for Tipperary: just Pat Fox, Nicky English, Cormac Bonnar and Bobby Ryan were in their 30th year or more.
In 2019, the average age of the winning Tipperary side was 27.5. If Clare were to start the opening championship team in an All-Ireland final, the average would be 28.6. Were Limerick to go with the same, theirs would be the same.
The two counties were among the youngest to win in 2013 (Clare, average 23) and ’18 (Limerick, average 23.6). Were either to win again in July with the vestiges of those breakthrough seasons still present, it would be heralded as a victory for strength and conditioning and aptitude for change.
John Kiely has fielded questions about the longevity of his team and how Limerick were looked at in a colder light after the five-in-a-row attempt ran aground.
Prior to last year’s Munster final, he spoke about the ability of players to extend their careers into their late 30s, “I think that’s all doable," he said. "They’re not made of metal or steel. They don’t rust, they don’t corrode.
“The lads have worked really hard. Plus, they’ve had fantastic care over the last 10 to 12 years in their S&C and medical programmes. We’ve always done right by the lads medically. If they weren’t fit, they didn’t play. That’s been borne out now. They’re really strong.”
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Kiely continued: “It’s really important that we don’t almost pre-empt an earlier than necessary step away from the game. We need to make sure that the boys can enjoy the time playing the game that they love. That’s the most important part of it.”
After all they have provided, it would almost be a shame if Clare and Limerick never got to try and better each other’s moves in the All-Ireland series. For two groups supposedly insisting on one last waltz, it would be an appropriate showdown. For now, another dance-off in Ennis will do just nicely.
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