Another summit. What a glorious view. The Munster championship has never been as competitive as it is now, and it has never seen a greater team. Darwin must have a theory for this. Limerick’s sixth title in-a-row is a new record, and the milestone must be saluted, but their brilliance will live long after the counting stops.
Just like last year, there were times in this Munster championship when Limerick looked vulnerable or slightly jaded, but those doubts seem small-minded now. Clare have been their most intractable opponents for the last three years, part of a peer group in which Limerick have very little company. But yesterday there was distance between them; Clare were beaten beyond doubt.
Limerick didn’t trail after the 16th minute and when Gearóid Hegarty’s goal put them six points clear, 10 minutes into the second half, there was a chance that the game would get away from Clare. For the remaining 25 minutes they played against the freshening wind and the surging tide, without losing any more ground and without ever threatening to win: 1-26 to 1-20 it finished, Limerick’s biggest win over Clare in their last six championship meetings.
There are bound to be consequences. For Clare this is their third Munster final defeat in a row and surely the most hurtful. In each of the last two seasons they recovered to reach Croke Park, arriving without their best stuff. The load-bearing players in this group have given over a decade in the jersey; the resilience that has sustained them until now will be stretched again. One more push. One last push?
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In Limerick’s universe the achievement had other meaning. Winning is the outcome of the day-to-day stuff that consumes their attention. It has a relentless, self-perpetuating quality. They win because it is the thing they are best designed to do.
“It means a lot to the group,” said John Kiely. “It means a huge amount to the group. We just want to keep going. You can’t stop moving forward. The boys have a very clear understanding of the necessity for us to keep moving forward, to get better, hitting the targets that we want to hit in terms of our performance. That’s all that matters to us really.
“It felt like our first. That’s all I’ll say to you. It felt like our first.”
When Limerick took over halfway through the first half their dominance was composed of familiar stuff. They took a grip in the air and tormented Clare on their restarts. Long ball was devoured.
The Limerick half-back line has been breached at times this summer but its equilibrium was restored against Waterford and yesterday it operated to full power. Over the years it has been Limerick’s most resourceful grid. By the 23rd minute more than half of Limerick’s scores had come from that line and Diarmuid Byrnes, Declan Hannon and Kyle Hayes had all scored from play.
More than that, Hannon was their principal playmaker. When Limerick are in full flow they create a forcefield around their number six that allows him to receive possession and make it better. Limerick flooded the middle of the field and brought pulverising aggression and energy, just as they have done so often in the past. Being forewarned offers no protection.
In Páirc Uí Chaoimh a few weeks ago Limerick had allowed Cork the oxygen of space. In the second half here, when some of Eibhear Quilligan’s puck-outs didn’t even reach the Limerick 65, Clare were suffocated. They had nowhere to go.
Clare’s last chance to rattle the champions came with 12 minutes of normal time remaining. Barry Nash played a careless ball straight to Tony Kelly, who transferred the ball to Mark Rodgers with digital precision. A couple of minutes earlier Rodgers had hit a shot straight at Nickie Quaid, with a predictable result. This time, his angled shot careered off the post and away to safety.
Rodgers had been Clare’s second best forward this summer, but yesterday there were no traces of that form until maybe the last 15 minutes. Like many others, he suffered. He should have scored.
Kiely reckons they lost control for “eight or ten minutes”. It might have been that long. It might not have been loss of control. Clare had a spell. Nothing more.
“I think we held our nerve well,” said Kiely. “There were times in the second half when we just got a little bit ragged. We were failing to win our puck-out. Clare were getting a couple of attacks. But we got on top of it again, we got reset, we got a bit of structure in. Little tweaks here and there.”
The work never stops. Before the All-Ireland semi-final they have a month to fill their lungs. On this climb now every altitude is new.
