In the space of eight days, the All-Ireland championships may just have been revolutionised. This century – and we are now a quarter way through it – has been a time of governing elites, relentless acquisition of All-Irelands by the few as opposed to the many.
Limerick have won five All-Irelands in seven years and became only the third team ever to win four-in-a-row hurling titles, but the second in as little as 15 years. Kilkenny have amassed 11 since 2000.
There has been a six-in-a-row in football, courtesy of Jim Gavin’s success in breaking the five-in-a-row sound barrier with Dublin and Dessie Farrell’s more than respectable follow-through. A decade earlier, Kerry and Tyrone shared out all of the All-Irelands between 2003 and ‘09.
All of these supremacies have led to diminished enthusiasm for the start of championships: for years, there had been unassailable-looking champions, whether Kilkenny and later Limerick hurlers or Dublin footballers.
It is not simply a question of new counties ascending the heights – each of the above-mentioned teams had to start at some stage – but the fact is that none of the four All-Ireland finalists this month were seen as potential top two teams when the championship began.
One interesting statistic circulating the digital landscapes in the past couple of days points out that, for the first time since the introduction of the provincial system in 1888, both All-Ireland titles have gone to teams who don’t have a provincial medal between them.
For most of championship history that has been a self-fulfilling state of affairs because a county’s only route into the All-Ireland series was by first winning its provincial championship.
The nub of the point is also slightly worn by the presence of so many Liam MacCarthy medallists – six playing last Sunday week and one panellist – on Clare’s victorious hurling team.
Nonetheless, the statistic shines a light on the nature of the overall championship and the growing disconnection between provincial and All-Ireland competition.
Limerick have been very successful in calibrating provincial performance every year and raising the game for Munster finals, which in turn led to a four-week break before the ultimate form was unleashed at Croke Park. Until this year.
One element of Clare’s All-Ireland victory was the extent to which the team put the Munster final defeat behind them and drew a line under it – as opposed to all of the emotional effort that went into trying to win the title in the previous two finals. There comes a point when provincial titles genuinely don’t matter.
Football was the first to diverge from provincial relevance. The very first year of the qualifiers, 2001, produced a Galway All-Ireland when the county hadn’t won Connacht. In the first 10 years of the format, six eventual champions came through that same route.
Armagh’s win on Sunday was the first by a team not to have taken their province since 2010, when Cork beat Down in a year distinguished by four semi-finals, none of whom were provincial champions.
(On an unrelated point, it was also only the second time that both the hurling and football finals were won by a point; the first was 1961.)
Galway came to a perplexing halt on Sunday, having brought down the curtain on the Dublin era in the quarter-finals and looking very credible contenders in the meantime. They travelled a conventional road, defeating the Leinster and Ulster champions, which most years would have left them with the Sam Maguire.
The only glitch in progress that looked like a solid apprenticeship for the title has been a failure to win the All-Ireland group, which coincidentally they have shared with Armagh in the past two seasons. The additional match that came with that proved too much last year but was navigated this time around.
Like Cork in the hurling, Galway have the sickening disappointment of not having given the final their best shot and still finishing within a point – something that will surely settle into motivation once the worst regrets of the coming weeks have eased.
The format of the championships in both hurling and football have settled into a process by which teams have plenty of opportunity to stay afloat and hope to find form at the critical stages. Although Dublin had skip loads of All-Ireland medals 12 months ago, it was the decisive change of gear from the quarter-finals on that set the winning tone for last year.
Armagh reached biting point in this year’s semi-final with Kerry and exorcised all the insecurities about being unable to see out tight finishes against top teams. Clare hurlers did something similar in their semi-final, beating Kilkenny after successive defeats by the Leinster champions.
The Liam MacCarthy joins the Dr Croke Cup on Clare’s mantelpiece, a double which has appeared almost incidental but is also generally the preserve of dominant teams.
Football looks to have been thoroughly shaken up with the centre of gravity moving northwards – amid a clean sweep for Ulster football, the province most pertinently has the biggest haul possible of senior intercounty silverware: Sam Maguire, league Division One and Two titles and obviously the Anglo-Celt, but won by three different counties, Armagh, Derry and Donegal.
It wouldn’t be wise to get too Pollyanna about the hurling championship with Limerick still around. Previous five-in-a-row attempts that fell short include Kilkenny going on to win four of the next five All-Irelands and the Kerry footballers regathering for a three-in-a-row two years later.
These years, however, bring greater attrition for any team looking to survive in Munster and Limerick have comparatively bigger mileage than their predecessors.
Overall, though, the horizons look bright with opportunity for a number of counties.
