KILLINAN END - Kilkenny under pressure to stall Limerick’s momentum
The recent treatment of Jonny Sexton where he was banned for three games – all friendlies – meaning he will be back for Ireland’s opening World Cup game brought the memory back to some of the great escapes in the GAA world over the years.
In 1974, Ballybrown played Patrickswell at the Gaelic Grounds and after a melee, Tom Ryan and Richie Bennis - future managers of Limerick teams in All-Ireland finals both got the line. Their month’s suspension expired at midnight before the All-Ireland final. These days a means of over-turning the suspension would be found but in those days the availability from ‘midnight before the match that matters’ was the get-out tactic.
This is almost half a century ago now, but it was another Limerick-Kilkenny game of titanic significance. The games between these counties traditionally have been few enough but they have tended to come in bunches. Black and Amber mingled with Green and White four times in seven years 1933-40. They did not cross paths again in the championship until the 1973 final and did the same again twelve months later. Those of a superstitious disposition on Shannonside might worry that never have the teams met in successive finals with the same outcome. How can we make history? Let me count the ways.
In the middle of the summer of 1973 Kilkenny beat Wexford comprehensively in the Leinster Final. In an era of knife-edge games between those counties this was a landslide. The All-Ireland champions made short work of the League champions so much that even in hindsight that performance is often considered peak Kilkenny 1971-75. In contrast, notwithstanding the fame surrounding Richie Bennis’s famous last-minute ’70, Limerick relied on goals to get them over the line against Tipp. Seven Limerick points played Tipp’s eighteen yet six goals pulled serious weight. Not a trick repeatable on a sodden wet day in September against Kilkenny. But cats are skinned in many different ways.
Modern Limerick are used to missing key players – Cian Lynch last year, Seán Finn this year. In 1973 Kilkenny missed Jim Treacy, Kieran Purcell, and Eddie Keher. On the face of it a fifth of the team was quite the loss even for the form team of mid-summer. Replacements were not bad and included the previous year’s Minor winning captain, Brian Cody, and a reliable sharp-shooting veteran in Claus Dunne. At the same time little would Kilkenny had felt in September 1972 that they would line out twelve months later with Jim Lynch at full-forward or Pat Broderick at wing-forward, or Brian Cody or Claus Dunne.
When Eddie Keher claims that still nothing would have beaten Limerick on that day maybe he is being generous but there is no doubt that the Boys in Green brought their ‘A’ game. No more can be asked. A year later was a disaster by a variety of measures from a Limerick perspective with even their own internal wranglings contributing – the Ryan-Bennis row; South Liberties kicked out of the County championship, as well as Pat Hartigan carrying an injury ahead of the All-Ireland final and Eamon Cregan suffering food poisoning during the summer.
It is difficult to see what lessons can be gleaned from those far-off days to be applied in the modern day. After the 1973 final win JP McManus was squeezed into a packed Limerick dressing-room through a window. He will hardly require this next weekend if he wants to greet the troops. As a change in circumstances in the intervening period it might be as telling as any.
Limerick enter a final with Kilkenny from a position of unparalleled strength. Four All-Ireland titles under the belt and the memory of what they can do to Kilkenny when in the mood as demonstrated earlier in the year in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. They also have the memory of 2019’s defeat and even the final of last year in which they never looked likely to lose but never threatened to put Kilkenny to the sword in the manner of Tipp 2016/2019. Focus will be sharp. Cian Lynch with his elusive play-making capacity will present Kilkenny with fresh problems.
Kilkenny’s great strength is that – to pinch a phrase overheard during the Wimbledon tennis coverage – they will not beat themselves. This is not Tipperary, Galway, or Clare. They may not be appreciably better than any of those counties, but they will hang in and ask questions. Their great weakness is a tendency to resort to Hail Mary efforts when short puckouts options are smothered and pressure is cranked up. Not advisable against Limerick with their aerial prowess.
Things do not go in straight lines but if they did, we would point out the patchiness of Kilkenny’s record – loss to Wexford, draw with Galway, reliance on self-damaging defence of Galway and Clare. The Cats were under the pump for considerable stretches of those last two games. To try this against the next opposition would not be detrimental. It is only fair to acknowledge that Limerick found themselves on sticky ground in Munster on more than one occasion and such below-par performances would not be wise on the big day. The Galway game suggests a team hitting the right notes at the right time. If that evidence is reliable Kilkenny will do well to lay a glove on this Limerick team.