National Hurling League Final: Limerick 2-20 Kilkenny 0-15
In the press conference, John Kiely was asked to weigh up the pleasure of winning and the irritation of shooting 15 second-half wides, and he thought about the answer with a blank face for five or six seconds. In the league, even in the final, it is never just about winning or losing. Limerick were careless and inefficient and dominant and magnificent and won by a margin that was only an approximate truth.
A couple of months ago it was hard to imagine that Limerick would finish the league as firmer favourites for the All-Ireland than they were when the competition started, but it is the only sensible conclusion now. Kilkenny ran Limerick to a couple of points in last year’s All-Ireland, and the way that game played out a different outcome wasn’t out of the question. But they were overwhelmed by the champions on Sunday afternoon and blessed to escape with an 11-point hiding.
Limerick won in the absence of so many things that we take for granted. Cian Lynch, Gearóid Hegarty, Peter Casey and Tom Morrissey – who came on at half-time – all failed to score; Aaron Gillane missed a couple of handy frees, Diarmuid Byrnes fluffed a couple from distance early on. And still it made no difference.
Declan Hannon and Kyle Hayes were missing from the published line-up with a dose of the flu and “a small strain” – neither of which would have stopped them from playing in a do-or-die game. But it meant a substantial reshuffle of their defence; that didn’t matter either. Will O’Donoghue was missing too, suspended. So what?
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“It was a bit Jekyll and Hyde-ish, there was good parts and there was some terrible parts,” said Kiely, when his thoughts were audited. “It’s a mixed bag in terms of reflection on it, we controlled part of the game quite well. We had to work hard on their puck-out, particularly their short puck-out, which was causing us some difficulties.
“The wides were disappointing, absolutely. While we’re happy to have created those scoring chances, we need to be taking more of them. I’d say our shooting efficiency is the lowest that it’s been all year in that performance but at the same time, we’re very happy to be league champions.”
Kilkenny brought plenty of aggression and energy early on, and for a short time it looked like they might make a game of it, but that illusion perished before half-time.
Strangely, Limerick were slow to get to the pitch of Kilkenny’s tackling and aggression. After about eight minutes, during a short break in play, Kiely fired a few audible rockets from the sideline, clearly agitated. Two minutes later Paul Kinnerk joined him for an impromptu conference and Alan Cunningham soon followed. It might have been a coincidence that Limerick scored the next three points.
Playing with the breeze in the first half Kilkenny landed some lovely long-range points, a couple of them from Adrian Mullen, who was playing in his first game of the year only 10 days after returning to training.
Richie Reid and Paddy Deegan struck from distance too, but as the half wore on Kilkenny found it difficult to make the ball stick in their forwards. As Limerick ramped up the pressure at the other end of the field Kilkenny’s attempts to play the ball through the lines were increasingly hurried and harassed, and the ball going in was delivered rashly at times.
Slowly, Limerick turned the screw. They should have nailed the first goal of the game after 12 minutes when Séamus Flanagan let fly on a bouncing ball and missed at the far post. Six minutes later, though, the breakthrough came. Flanagan played a terrific cross field ball to the rampant Gillane, and the extra man running into space was Barry Nash, the Limerick corner back. His low shot carried such pace that Eoin Murphy was beaten at his near post.
That put the All-Ireland champions 1-4 to 0-5 in front after 18 minutes and after that they found a better rhythm. By half-time, their lead was six, 1-13 to 0-10, and soon after the resumption they were eight points clear.
Kilkenny had one short spell of resurgence, and were still within shouting distance midway through the second half. But when Gillane finished a brilliant move with a sweeping volley for Limerick’s second goal after 54 minutes the game was over once and for all.
Limerick were 12 points up with nine minutes left, and almost like in cricket, declared their innings. They missed from all angles in the time that remained, as if they were suddenly on shore leave.
“Obviously, today was a sobering experience for everybody,” said Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng, “and I think it grounds everybody. You just have to strip everything back and that’s what we’ll do. I think a lot of the things we weren’t good at today, we can be better at, we can improve on it. It doesn’t happen overnight, though.”
Every other team is dealing with the same grizzly imperatives too.
LIMERICK: N Quaid; S Finn, M Casey, B Nash (1-1); D Byrnes (0-6, four frees), D Morrissey, C Coughlan (0-1); D O’Donovan (0-2), B Murphy; G Hegarty, C Lynch, C O’Neill (0-1); A Gillane (1-6, four frees), S Flanagan (0-3), P Casey. Subs: T Morrissey for Murphy (h-t); R English for M Casey (47 mins); C Boylan for Lynch (58); D O’Dalaigh for Flanagan (63); S O’Brien for P Casey (67); M Quinlan for Byrnes (70).
KILKENNY: E Murphy; M Butler, T Walsh, P Walsh; R Reid (0-2), H Lawlor (0-1), D Blanchfield; C Fogarty, P Deegan (0-2); J Donnelly, A Mullen (0-3), B Ryan; B Drennan (0-5, five frees), M Keoghan, E Cody (0-2, one free). Subs: C Kenny for Donnelly (h-t); P Mullen for Fogarty (47 mins); T Clifford for A Mullen (53); A Murphy for Ryan (56); G Dunne for Drennan (57).
Referee: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).
