Next week's hurling league final is far from novel. The pairing of Tipperary and Galway is the most recurring fixture in the past 30 years of finals having been played on seven occasions, nearly a quarter of the total.
With two exceptions – in 1989 at Croke Park and 1999 in Ennis – the matches have been played in Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds, the venue for next Sunday’s final with a 3.30 throw-in.
It is also a renewal of one of the modern game’s most influential rivalries. The stark difference between last year and 2015 for Tipperary was that in the first year they lost to Galway in an All-Ireland semi-final by a point and last August beat them by the same margin before going on to defeat Kilkenny in the final.
In fact Tipperary’s last five All-Irelands – all of them going back to 1971 – have featured a win against the Westerners on the way to success in September, including the 2001 final.
The counties have equally divided the six finals to date over this period but success has never led to greater things the following September.
In 1989 Galway won the league but Tipperary won the All-Ireland, ending the 18-year famine that had afflicted the county – reversing the league final outcome along the way in a controversial All-Ireland semi-final.
For more than 50 years Tipperary have been unable to defend their All-Ireland title a year later. As a sign of that difficulty in following up on a Liam MacCarthy, the county has never won the next season’s league title. Over that period of five All-Ireland titles only on one occasion did the county reach the following league final.
More businesslike
That was in 1992 when they surprisingly lost to Limerick and within a few weeks had been knocked out of the championship by Cork.
This year, manager Michael Ryan has alluded to his desire to go about their business like champions but he has also been keen to emphasise that there was nothing special about their attitude to the spring competition.
“We’ve arrived in a great position today, thankfully,” he said in March after defeating Clare in Thurles for a third successive victory. We approached the league the same way we always do. I hate to tell you lads but that’s exactly how we’ve approached it every year but results didn’t follow us.”
Yet the county has looked undeniably more businesslike in the early months of this season. After Sunday’s big semi-final win over Wexford, Ryan acknowledged their ambitions for the league and he is looked forward to the final against familiar opponents.
During his playing career he hurled in the league finals of 1994, ’96 and 2000, winning the first but losing the other two.
“We never fail to have but a good game with Galway. It’s super preparation for us – four weeks out from next Sunday to championship but look, for the time we’re in there’s a national title to be played for. We’re delighted to be in that final, we set it out really early in the year that we wanted to have a real go at this league and try and win it. That story hasn’t changed.”
