AS WE FACE another weekend without live sport, it seems like a good time to get back to talking about GAA games, if for no other reason than to provide a distraction during these trying times.
TG4 made the welcome call during the week to air 10 classic GAA games in March and April, starting with the drawn 2014 All-Ireland hurling final between Kilkenny and Tipperary this afternoon.
It’s a good opportunity to reflect on that decider between the great rivals and the big picture implications of the events that unfolded during the 3-22 to 1-28 draw that afternoon in Croke Park.
It was the greatest game ever TG4
— Anthony Daly (@DaloAnto) March 22, 2020
Here are five observations that jump out from a game that will go down as one of the best in hurling history:
1. Hawk-Eye’s first major decision
Had Hawk-Eye not been introduced by the GAA at Croke Park a year earlier, it’s likely John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer’s dramatic last-ditch free would have been awarded as a point and Tipperary crowned 2014 All-Ireland champions.
It was the first major incident that highlighted the benefit of Croke Park’s investment in Hawk-Eye for the 2013 season.
The umpires thought O’Dwyer’s booming 97-metre free was a score but referred it to Hawk-Eye just to be sure. It was signalled as a miss, sailing only millimetres wide. It was rough justice for ‘Bubbles’ who’d enjoyed another fine game in his breakthrough campaign.
He scored 0-7 in total, the last score an equaliser from the tightest of angles to crown an outstanding afternoon, even despite his second-half penalty miss.
O’Dwyer was 22 that season when he established himself on the Premier team for the first time, breaking into a star-studded attack that contained Seamus Callanan, Lar Corbett, Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher, Noel McGrath and Gearóid Ryan, while Eoin Kelly, Jason Forde and John O’Brien arrived off the bench.
O’Dwyer’s late miss meant the hurling decider went to a replay for the third year in succession, following the Clare-Cork and Kilkenny-Galway finals the previous seasons.
2. Last hurrah for Kilkenny heroes
A number of Brian Cody favourites went into that game thinking it would be their last in the Kilkenny jersey. The draw meant they’d have another day out – which Kilkenny won by 2-17 to 2-14 – before some star names dropped out of the game for good.
That winter Tommy Walsh, David Herity, Brian Hogan, Aidan ‘Taggy’ Fogarty and JJ Delaney sailed into the sunset and by the following March, Henry Shefflin had followed them.
It was the beginning of the end for the great four-in-a-row team, as veterans such as Michael Fennelly (December 2017), Richie Power (January 2016) and Eoin Larkin (December 2016) battled injury in their final few seasons under Cody, while Jackie Tyrrell also hung up his hurley (November 2016).
Tipperary were hit by retirement too, with Eoin Kelly and John O’Brien bowing out after the 2014 season.
3. Callanan makes the leap
Seamus Callanan had endured several ups and downs in the years leading up to 2014. He drew the ire of some Tipperary fans by going through a dip in form after his exciting arrival on the scene as a teenager.
With Eamon O’Shea in charge that season, Callanan enjoyed a quantum leap in his fortunes. The Drom-Inch ace recently recalled a conversation he had with O’Shea prior to that campaign where the Premier manager put an arm around the forward and said, ‘Look, we really need you to drive this on, I’m putting my faith in you.’
Callanan had been accused in past of underperforming in big games and he credited O’Shea’s appointment as “a huge turning point for me.” Things clicked for him after O’Shea told him he’d be his No 14 for the entire year.
Callanan was joint top-scorer in the final with seven points – five from play – and by the end of the season he was shortlisted for Hurler of the Year, a feat he would repeat in each of the next two years.
It was the first year Callanan became the leading man in the Premier attack and he’s rarely looked back since.
4. Stark reminder of Hogan and Power class
One of the big ‘what-ifs’ in hurling is: What heights would Richie Hogan have reached had he not been struck down with a series of the debilitating back, hamstring and quad injuries over the past five years?
A more natural hurler than even TJ Reid, Hogan’s performance in this final is a stark reminder of his dominance at his peak. He was at his apex in 2014, named Hurler of the Year following a series of shining performances throughout the summer, including a six-point haul from play in the drawn decider.
It was the beginning of a phenomenal run of form from Hogan. Between 2014 to 2016, he scored 3-50 in 16 championship games for the Cats.
Richie Power was another who was severely impacted by injury. Electric at various stages in the previous three championships, Power missed much of the summer action in 2014 after he sustained a bad PCL knee injury against Galway in Tullamore.
He bagged 2-1 against Tipperary in this final, his first start since he went down holding his knee in O’Connor Park. Both goals were clinical poacher’s finishes, where time appeared to slow down for Power as he broke through on Darren Gleeson’s goal.
He popped up a stunning goal in the replay to help Kilkenny lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup. After they retained the title a year later, Power’s knee forced him to pack in his inter-county playing days.
5. A classic of the genre
Cyril Farrell summed it up best in the RTÉ studio at full-time, exhaling: “It was a privilege just to be sitting here!”
This breathtaking contest on the first Sunday in September was the sport at its absolute pinnacle. It was one of those days where the hurling snobs could pronounce the small ball code as the ‘greatest game in the world’ on Twitter and there could simply be no argument.
Kilkenny and Tipperary served up games that defied logic during the great trilogy of final meetings between 2009-11, but this game brought hurling to a new level and went down as an instant classic.
It contained a feast of scoring – 54 scores in total, four goals and just nine wides – two penalty saves, last-minute drama and the last appearances of Henry Shefflin and Eoin Kelly on an All-Ireland final Sunday. (The replay took place on a Saturday evening three weeks later)
Was it the greatest game ever played? We’ll leave that one up to you.
****
Watch it back here:
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
