All-Ireland SHC final
Limerick v Kilkenny
Croke Park, Sunday, 3.30 – Live on RTÉ 2 and Sky Sports. Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork)
Well, the split season has certainly delivered hurling weather for the All-Ireland final with Croke Park set to bubble in the late 20s for a first final in July in more than a century.
It has also produced a contest with more intrigue than appeared likely as Limerick moved like a juggernaut through the championship, taking the best that anyone could throw at them albeit without gearing up into full destructiveness.
Kilkenny improved out of all recognition between province and All-Ireland and, trailing that unsettling aura of being able to pounce from nowhere, have positioned themselves as underdogs with bite given the form of key players.
Whether they have, as appeared in the semi-final, overhauled their game plan needs further stress-testing but they looked more accomplished, more varied and in better form than when losing twice in Leinster, to Galway and Wexford.
There was always the prospect that the champions would fall off last year’s extraordinary standards with the 12 All Stars that could have been even more. One calculation was that they could slip about 15 per cent and still be better than any of the rest.
Man proposes. The season was less than a fortnight open for business when fate struck a blow and injured Hurler of the Year Cian Lynch’s hamstring so badly that 10 weeks later he still didn’t look himself making a reappearance off the bench in the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway.
Of course that was before an ankle injury unambiguously shut down his season. Peter Casey’s return after cruciate injury is more advanced but he still hasn’t got the nod to start, his input preferred at the end of the contest. That’s your 15 per cent.
Think back to last year’s final and the combined efforts of Lynch and Casey. The latter had been so in the zone that before he had to leave the fray with his ruined knee, Casey had hit 0-5 from play. No wides. Nothing dropped short. It would have been MOTM territory but for Lynch. Unveiling the full box of tricks he shot 0-6 from play, one wide and a mesmerising 2-3 in assists.
Take them out of it and play the final again. Cork would hardly win but they wouldn’t lose by 16.
Limerick have coped in their absence through the immense contribution of Aaron Gillane, especially, and Séamus Flanagan. Gillane has been unstoppable, firing points over his shoulder with the insouciance of someone whose eyes are closed. Even Daithí Burke, full back of his generation, struggled in the semi-final. Flanagan hit 0-8 from play in the Munster final.
The pair of them face serious opponents this weekend. Huw Lawlor is All Star in waiting and Mikey Butler is rookie of the year and put out the Tony Kelly fire in the semi-final.
Limerick didn’t score in the semi-final for more than 15 minutes either side of half-time, enough of a drought to turn a four-point lead into a deficit once Galway had helped themselves to an unanswered 1-2.
Could the champions be harassed into similar non-productivity? Maybe. Wing forwards Gearóid Hegarty and Tom Morrissey haven’t been dovetailing in spectacular scoring totals but Lynch at centre forward had a way of creating space.
Kilkenny’s torpedoing of Clare was quite unexpected except in Kilkenny where word of the training ground improvement was, by the day, general in the county. Attempts to dismiss Kilkenny’s coup by reference to malfunctioning opponents founder on the metrics of the performance.
By some analysis, Brian Cody’s team were hitting markers they hadn’t achieved in a few years and to have settled the match by half-time with a score of 1-17 and one wide suggested Kilkenny were once more dancing to their own music.
Unlike in the semi-final that will be complicated – rather than facilitated – by the presence of other team. Limerick have a fully functioning defence, which settles around captain Declan Hannon as opposed to Clare’s slightly rudderless rearguard in the unexpected absence of John Conlon.
They tend to let floating players float so Adrian Mullen, in the best form of his intercounty career, may well be able to help himself to scores but even allowing for the impressive accuracy of two weeks ago, in general scoring will be harder.
Where will TJ Reid be placed? Possibly on the edge of the square and in his form, Kilkenny will be hoping for goals.
In the semi-final three years ago, Limerick started so badly they were 0-9 behind in the first quarter before realising what had happened. They still recovered to lose by a point but in typical Kilkenny style, the scoreboard was kept ticking and despite a spirited chase, the flickering gap couldn’t be extinguished.
The champions aren’t the team of last year but they are a side that has traded blows with good teams down the finishing straight. Back in April, they coughed up an unexpected two goals in a minute to leave Waterford – then still their chief antagonists – just a point in arrears.
Instead of panicking, they stemmed the flow and eased away with the last two points of the evening.
They outscored Galway 0-7 to 0-3 having trailed going into the last 10 minutes, beat peak Clare by three in extra time in the Munster final. They have found scores when crisis calls.
Too many things need to go Kilkenny’s way for an inexperienced team playing the most dominant side of the era. It’s no longer inconceivable but remains unlikely.
