Building Resilience
KILLINAN END
Qualification of Limerick, Cork, and Clare, from the Munster Hurling Championship was the default prediction in 2024. While Cork came the circuitous route and relied on the kindness of strangers along the way, the year panned out as expected. When this competition format was first imagined, its success - as measured in terms of attendances and the cliff-hanging outcomes - could hardly have been anticipated.
This has been the jewel in the crown of the hurling championship recent years though some would look at such a remark with a raised eyebrow. Many in Munster might quibble and argue that the primacy of the Munster Championship has always been the beyond argument. What has changed is the competitiveness where, notwithstanding the predictive tendencies, outcomes are generally in some doubt. The two counties currently challenging that prospect into the future are Waterford and Tipperary.
In July 1987 Richard Stakelum proclaimed, in the shadow of McGillycuddy’s Reeks, that ‘the Famine is over’. It was an evocative venue that held exceptional memories for Tipp. Back in 1937, it had been the scene for one of the more unusual Tipp All-Ireland wins when the final was moved to the spanking new Fitzgerald Stadium – opened just the year before. A building strike delayed events in Croke Park and led to a memorable All-Ireland occasion when Kilkenny were beaten.
Some thirteen years later, another day of mayhem and nail-biting excitement saw Tipp overcome Cork on the way to an All-Ireland win. Something similar took place fourteen years later in Killarney when, as the man said, “the rain was coming down in sheets”. Mick Roche and Babs Keating were nearly unplayable in that second-half in 1971 as Tipp beat Limerick with a last-minute John Flanagan point in an encounter which grew legendary in the rear mirror of time.
The 1973 Munster Final was a gruelling one-point defeat albeit to a Limerick team that had done enough against Tipp in those years to suggest it was due. In hindsight, that day was a generational high. The ‘Famine’ to which the captain referred was about to begin. The real nature of this malnutrition was not just the failure to win a Munster title but the inability, most of the time, to not even reach a final or win game. To be fair, Lady Luck was a rare companion. The four years after Richie Bennis’s last-gasp ’70 saw the team exit in two replays and two-one-point defeats. Yet, the long run tells stark truths and even qualification for the 1984 Munster Final was a liberation.
A good soundbite echoes long. In some respects, Richard Stakelum made this fallow period more memorable in Tipperary hurling by giving it a name. Names make things easier to discuss and rationalise. We are now in similar territory without the compactness of records which the 1970s gave us. Back in those days it was all on-the-day in a one-off situation. It was also a Munster championship without Kerry (which had saved Cork the indignity of going from 1992 to 1998 without a championship win). A bad run was a bad run in those days without the nuances and varying texture.
Still the raw stats of the current time are telling. Since the 2019 All-Ireland Final Tipp have played twenty championship games and won just four – Cork, Offaly and Clare twice. Hidden in the long grass of the headline are two draws, one with Limerick and one with Waterford. Outside of that it is a barren landscape. Two wins over Clare in recent years as well as a quarter-final win down in Cork against the same opposition back in 2017 indicates that the team that won the All-Ireland recently is not operating at some unattainable level.
Tipp’s difficulty – and yes, it is simplistic – is the swaying levels of competitiveness. Aspects of the 2023 championship were very encouraging but when the fat was in the fire the performance against Waterford did not cut it. Had that game been won the year opened up with a winnable Munster Final as a starting point. But there have been several severe beatings from Cork who are designed to punish weaker disorganised teams with their running game. We should not be vulnerable to that.
There are some senses where we can look across the border at Kilkenny. They do mediocrity really well. With a functional team in relative decline, they reached two All-Ireland Finals in recent years and gave a fair account of themselves for periods in this year’s semi-final. Even when outgunned heavily in last year’s second-half against Limerick they managed to keep the final margin within reasonable proportions. Conversely, when the pressure comes on Tipp the collapse is utter and complete. The fundamentals do not stand up to stress.
Admittedly, comparisons with Kilkenny are limited by the reality of their easier passage to the latter stages through the Leinster championship. But still, while their five successive Leinster championships 2020-24 pale in comparison to the 1971-75 achievements with its three All-Ireland titles to boot, they did beat Galway in three Leinster Finals. Based on recent evidence Tipp would probably have lost all three. There’s a lot spoken these days about building resilience and it’s a concept Tipp need to embrace. Becoming difficult to beat, and to play and score goals against would be a start. The Munster championship would be the better for it.