Thatâs brilliant
Great piece.
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Eamon Sweeney great piece
Heavyweight epic sets up Limerick and Clare to go the distance in Liam MacCarthy race
Yesterdayâs Limerick and Clare players might be faster and fitter than their illustrious predecessors but they share the essential qualities which built the legend of the Munster final.
The ferocious competitiveness, the honesty, courage and pride remain the same. In Semple Stadium not one player shirked a challenge, gave up on a ball, let down their team-mates or slackened their pace for a second.
And in the quite incredible period at the end of normal time all the modern gameâs tactical sophistication went by the wayside as the game boiled down to a series of frantic individual battles.
After Peter Dugganâs free drew Clare level for the 14th occasion with a minute and a half of normal time remaining, Rory Hayes broke up an attack before finding John Conlon who was robbed by Dan Morrissey who was then blocked by Cathal Malone before Barry Nash drove the ball wide.
Conlon charged out of defence and found David Fitzgerald who shipped two heavy shoulders which brought him to his knees where he still managed to get the ball forward. Now Kyle Hayes stormed forward, Rory Hayes intercepted again at one end, SeĂĄn Finn beat Tony Kelly to the ball at the other.
A midfield scramble ended with David Reidy snapping up the ball and passing to Dan Morrissey who found Declan Hannon whose wondrous point from his own half seemed a fitting winner.
Ninety seconds left. Kelly got the ball on the left wing and shaped to shoot only for William OâDonoghue to execute a magnificent hook. A sideline for Limerick. Then one for Clare with 40 seconds left. Nash won the ball 15 yards from his own goal. Shane OâDonnell drove him over the sideline.
Clare had a sideline cut to draw the match. Miss it and the game was over. Kelly cut it over the bar to send it into extra-time. No finale could have been more exhilarating. The essential nature of this breath-taking match was embodied in those frenetic five minutes.
We sometimes say really close games are won by the team which wanted it more. Thatâs not true in this case. No team could have wanted to win a game more than a Clare team exhibiting an awe-inspiring hunger.
But Limerick, seeking a fourth provincial title in a row, wanted it just as much as the Banner wanted their first in 24 years. Thatâs a tribute to the extraordinary spirit of the champions.
Last yearâs All-Ireland final may have been Limerickâs greatest performance but yesterdayâs game might just be their greatest victory. The one thing John Kielyâs side lacked in the previous two years were worthy rivals to extend them. Theyâve found those rivals in Clare. In doing so theyâve found, as the very greatest teams do, new weapons in their armoury at their greatest need.
Holding the fearsome quartet of Aaron Gillane, GearĂłid Hegarty, Tom Morrissey and Kyle Hayes to a mere 1-6 from play should have set Clare on the road to victory. It didnât because SĂŠamus Flanagan took up the slack. Back in 2018 the teenage full-forward seemed to epitomise the swashbuckling spirit of the young Limerick side.
It hasnât been entirely plain sailing for him since, last yearâs All-Star notwithstanding. But here Flanagan gave one of the finest attacking performances in Munster final history. Pitted against a Clare full-back line noted for its miserly nature he thundered out to the ball time and again, had a quick glance at the goals and shot on sight. Eight times he split the posts. None of those shots were easy. Limerickâs oft-maligned subs came up trumps too, Conor Boylan and Reidy landing the final two scores.
Curbing Kielyâs men is like playing some fiendishly difficult âwhack-a-moleâ game. Clobber as many of them as you like but one always pops up somewhere. Clare couldnât have brought any more to the game. The performances of Kelly, with his customary seven points from play tour de force, and Fitzgerald, who chipped in five from midfield, were as good as have been given in a losing cause on Munster final day. Their fans too added immensely to the proceedings. The Banner bring a feverish almost South American enthusiasm to these occasions.
At times it seemed as though we were back in 1995 when those supporters contributed so much to the momentum which turned Clare into an irresistible force. It wasnât to be. But maybe itâll be like 1997 when an epic Munster decider between the Banner and Tipp was repeated in the All-Ireland final.
Who wouldnât like to see another 70 minutes between a duo whose bouts already seem like hurlingâs version of the Ali-Frazier heavyweight rivalry?
Perhaps the most incredible thing about this game was that it produced 40 scores from play despite space and time on the ball being at a constant premium. We waited for the pace to drop, for tiring players to start making mistakes and the game to open up. It never really happened. Every one of those scores was struck under pressure of some sort. If the courage and fitness on show was extraordinary, the stratospherically high level of technical ability was even more so. The gorgeous flick over the head of a defender while moving at speed which set Hegarty on the way to the gameâs only goal perfectly illustrated the artistry whose marriage with physical intensity puts hurling in a class of its own. It is the game with everything.
This classic was an outstanding exhibition of the modern hurlerâs virtues but, in a game and province where tradition always matters, it was also a perfect tribute to those whoâve gone before.
There really is nothing like a Munster hurling final.
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It was primal yesterday- great viewing for a neutral
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Sorry, I canât copy and paste, and I think a link only works for one person, but this is a good read as these things go.
This bit in particular cc @binkybarnes or anyone from the close circle of @faldo or @fistoffury or @Joe_Player
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Thanks Flatty. My father passed away on Wednesday morning. Funeral was Thursday and Friday. A relief not to have to watch him suffer anymore. Im sad but actually expected to be worse. I think i did a lot of my grieving in the weeks leading up to his death.
The funeral was tough but some really nice parts to it too. The gaa club had a hurley guard of honour for the coffin outside the church. Made up of the senior hurling team and camogie players my Dad had coached. He would have loved it.
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Sorry for your loss. Your dad seemed like a noble sort and he raised a good one too.
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Iâm sorry but Iâm glad you had that and not a lonely vigil behind a mask. Like you say, heâd have liked it.
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Sorry for your loss, chief. May he rest in peace.
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RIP to your Dad, it sounds like he was a great father and friend to many.
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Sorry for your loss. RIP
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RIP. Mind yourself
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RIP
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Sorry for your loss mate.
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Sorry for your loss buddy. Take it easy
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Deepest sympathy mate
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