IN ALL FAIRNESS - A Hurling feast

Has there been a days hurling like that before? We have had outstanding weekends hurling, particularly the 2018 and 2019 All-Ireland semi-finals which left everyone on the edge of their seats but in terms of days, it will be hard to beat last Sunday's Munster and Leinster finals for drama.

When the schedules were confirmed earlier in the year that both provincial finals would be on the same day (this will change next year with the finals alternating between a Saturday evening and a Sunday afternoon on a two-year trial) that the Munster final would go first, you kind of felt the appetiser was following the main course. But as things turned out we got a gripping finale to the Leinster decider with Kilkenny’s smash and grab winner.

It had all the hallmarks of what Kilkenny had done to them back in 2005 when Rory Jacob’s goal with the last puck of the game for Wexford downed the cats in a Leinster semi-final and led to manager Brian Cody’s rare show of negative physical emotion by collapsing to the ground. Eighteen years on, Cody will surely have enjoyed a different taste in the stands as a supporter seeing this new Kilkenny team continuing to play in his style, never giving in and playing to the final whistle.

It was a game Kilkenny probably deserved to win on their overall performance but the manner of another collapse in the final ten minutes (similar to the group games with Galway and Wexford) with give manager Derek Lyng food for thought, after being bailed out by Cillian Buckley’s last gasp goal.

However, they were given a big slice of help by Galway who conspired to lose the game in a catastrophic fashion. They are such a frustrating team. For the third time in this championship, they found themselves in a deep hole midway through the second half (also against Kilkenny and Dublin in the round-robin) but then produced another superb recovery to take a two point lead going into the last sequence of the game.

A number of elements will concern manager Henry Shefflin over the nature of the last play, not just their lack of composure as they had numerous opportunities to get the ball clear, but they also appeared physically and mentally spent. His comments afterwards of his players being devastated is also concerning as they have only two weeks to recover for an All-Ireland quarter final which hopefully will be against Tipperary who will hope to thrive on that vulnerability.

Twelve months ago, Clare were the side coming out of a provincial final with a sense of devastation after their extra time loss to Limerick. Last Sunday, the result didn’t change but Clare go into the remainder of the campaign in much better fettle this time round. While they can rightfully claim they should have been awarded a free on at least two occasions in the final play to send the game to extra time, it should never have come to that as they had enough chances to win.

Rarely are this Limerick team outshot in terms of scoring chances but Clare got the better of them on this occasion but their accuracy percentage of 52% is not going to win enough games. The key period was after Mark Rodgers goal in the run up to half time when they took over but failed to reflect it on the scoreboard with Ryan Taylor involved in two big plays, firstly shooting wide when Tony Kelly was free inside for a goal chance, then a couple of minutes later, he forced what was a comfortable save from a keeper of the calibre of Nickie Quaid when taking the point was the better option.

Against such a great team as Limerick, you need to make any purple-patches count and Clare didn’t do it whereas the now five-in-a-row Munster champions did, as they always tend to do in the third quarter when they went from three points down to five points up.

If there is a chink in the Limerick armour at the moment, it is they aren’t killing teams off like they once did as Clare came back but some poor wides undid their good work.

However, the worrying thing for all challengers was that Limerick got home largely inspired by the new breed with Cathal O’Neill, Adam English and Colin Coughlan all making huge impacts off the bench, while David Reidy was a huge influence on the game all through from centre forward.

They now have four weeks to recharge and reload for the All-Ireland semi-finals and apart from the 2019 semi-final against Kilkenny, they tend to find another gear when they get to Croke Park. However, the aura of invincibility they have had over the last three years is beginning to slip but their ability to win tight games makes them strong favourites to retain the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the fourth year in a row next month.