The headline on my piece last weekend ahead of the All-Ireland hurling final got some reaction.
‘No place to hide… Lethal Limerick will blow Galway out of their comfort zone.’
We were certainly on the ball. Just like last year, the All-Ireland final worked out exactly as I predicted. It was a no contest.
Limerick celebrate their ‘no contest’ All-Ireland hurling final win over Galway in Croke Park
Limerick have done it all it. They are a great team and raised their game to match a great occasion.
As regards hurling itself, it opens up a serious debate as to what direction the game goes. Where next.
The days since have given me a great opportunity to think and to size up the whole situation. Regarding our pre-match comments, I won’t go further down the road of ‘I told you so’. We’ve taken the bit between our teeth and taken on issues and predictions and proven to be right but that’s part of what we do.
As it stands, I’m on the injury list and waiting to have this hip operation. Things being looked after for me on the farm. The sileage is finished, the cows are milking well and we’re actually praying for rain – that’s a new one.
Limerick is awash with huge celebrations since the All-Ireland final. But that will calm down soon with the club championship starting the first weekend of August. With being minor and senior champions, Limerick hurling in a very good place.
Limerick manager John Kiely and his assistants are a special group, way ahead of the pack
John Kiely and his senior management team are something else. Once more, they outthought, outfoxed, and outwitted everyone.
We’ve seen great teams come back after one year and win an All-Ireland. To come back after two years of defeats and put on an exhibition like that in the final is special.
Their structure and infrastructure around this group is impregnable. The support and the money that’s being put into it. And that’s only the surface of it.
What I would like to do is compliment the Galway supporters. I was that soldier. It’s a tough place to be in Croke Park and be beaten. I was there hoping for a Limerick win in 94 v Offaly and 96 v Wexford. It’s winner-takes-all. That’s the way of the world.
At least the Galway people turned out in numbers to welcome their team home.
That’s a big contrast to Cork last year who cancelled any homecoming.
I was talking a family who spent €1200 on tickets – they had been at all the matches all year and that was their expenditure on tickets alone.
But the Galway team has to go back to the drawing board. I’m going to blame the coaching and management of the team. I had 20 Questions from the county board on my desk the day following the All-Ireland in 1996. I’m not saying that should be the same thing for Galway management and their ‘system’.
But serious questions have to be asked.
Jason Rabbitte is a talented hurler but what was being asked of him by Galway was ridiculous
I watched all the preliminaries on RTÉ and the discussion of how Galway set up.
I ate my dinner before the match. How I didn’t get sick and see it reappear back up after listening to some of what was being said.
You had Cyril Farrell and Shane Dowling talking about the Galway ‘system’.
More of the same from Donal Óg Cusack and Joe Canning.
I couldn’t believe when I saw the set up that Galway employed to try and beat Limerick. Sure it was all one way traffic, right from the very start when Limerick carved out two goal opportunities for Gearóid Hegarty. Someone said after the match that they had no Plan B. Well to me, they had no Plan A.
Putting a young fella 19 years of age up against one of the best backlines ever? What kind of a ‘system’ is this?
Jason Rabbitte is a fine young hurler but he was the only forward – in fact the only Galway player – to score from play in the entire first half.
The family that paid €1200 for their family to go to Croke Park – surely they were entitled to a better show?
All of this, for the ‘system’.
Galway boss Micheál Donoghue and his management team have lots of questions to answer
Galway manager Micheal Donoghue has plenty of good hurling men around him in Francis Forde, Noel Larkin and Aidan Harte.
Caroline Currid was praised to the clouds by Cian Lynch and the Limerick players but every county has a version of Caroline Currid. A sports psychologist plus a crew doing stats and all the rest of it. That’s forgotten when a team is beaten and they all vanish into the mist.
I spoke about Cork in the Munster final. How they put Limerick to pin of their collar. Marked them, man on man. Hurling as it should be played.
In the All-Ireland semi-final, Clare went man on man. Marked Limerick’s key players and pushed them all the way.
Surely Galway could see that?
If this new Hurling Advisory Committee want to improve hurling, then improve the coaching.
I see Tipperary giving Liam Cahill three more years. I wouldn’t give him three more months after their performance this year.
Galway the same. No more than Tipperary, they’ve great young hurlers. But are being f**ked up by systems.
Waterford have no manager. The most systems man of all has been appointed in Wexford.
Limerick’s Gearoid Hegarty has his shot saved by Galway’s Darach Fahy in the All-Ireland final
They have made a b****cks of the game with all this system stuff.
Limerick coach Paul Kinnerk is a genius. I can remember the time he brought out the whiteboard when the water breaks were introduced. Always one step ahead. But Limerick have no system bar tear into the opposition and overpower their opponents.
Looking at the game in a broad sense, hurling is in crisis. They can have all the committees they like. You had Anthony Daly commenting on Sunday night, someone who has done his time as manager. His main incident was the Nickie Quaid black card in the semi-final – or the failure to issue one.
I don’t agree with this bullshit about changing rules in order to facilitate these gurus on the sideline, masquerading as coaches.
Limerick should have won by 30, not by 11. If I had overseen a no show like this, I’d walk.
To put a 19-year-old up against one of the best backlines to have ever played hurling? To hit the ball out to the corner flag of the Hogan or Cusack Stand?
And expect then to score or win?
You have to pin Limerick down.
Cian Lynch lifts the trophy following Limerick’s facile victory over Galway in the final
All this guff about Aaron Gillane being gone. That was only because the half-back line couldn’t gift-wrap the ball for him because Cork and Clare were marking out the field and putting pressure on.
Where was he Sunday? Back flying, because the ball was gift-wrapped once again by the likes of Cian Lynch and Diarmaid Byrnes.
If we expect to see an improvement in hurling and prevent another no contest like Sunday happening, then look at the management and coaching ‘systems’ in the top countries.
Otherwise, God save hurling.
Cork referee Colm Lyons was top class in the All-Ireland hurling final, quick and decisive
P.S. I would like to give credit to referee Colm Lyons. If the referees do their job like the Cork official in the All-Ireland final, then we won’t need any rule change. He was on the ball. Top class. Made decisions and made them quick.
So forget about the game needing rule changes. Just apply the rules as they are.
P.P.S. It’s the last column of the championship so I’d like to thank all the readers for their support and the support of the newspaper and MailPlus. Especially, the best wishes that I got in my hour of need from the readers.
The criticism and all the curses aimed my way as well by various fans or readers, sure that’s all part of it.
I do get a stipend from the Mail for my thoughts on hurling. That stipend goes to Médicine Sans Frontièrs and Concern. I would just like to highlight all the important work that they do.
MY TEAM OF THE YEAR
Nickie Quaid (Limerick)
Niall O’Leary (Cork), Cillian Trayers (Galway), Barry Nash (Limerick);
Diarmaid Byrnes (Limerick), Will O’Donoghue (Limerick), Kyle Hayes (Limerick);
Cian Lynch (Limerick), Tommy O’Connell (Cork);
Gearóid Hegarty (Limerick), Aidan O’Connor (Limerick), Peter Duggan (Clare);
Aaron Gillane (Limerick), Jason Rabbitte (Galway), Brian Hayes (Cork).
Hurler of the Year: Diarmaid Byrnes (Limerick)
Young Hurler of the Year: Jason Rabbitte (Galway)
