ANY CHANCE OF a ticket for Sunday?
All-Ireland final week means the inevitable ticket scramble. The whistle at the end of the semi-final is a starting gun. ‘I know your head is fried, but will you keep me in mind?’
I had a regular list of friends and family. I left it all to my father who thankfully sorted it. We were well used to the requests. They’d start rolling in during the Munster championship and gradually ramp up.
The most important thing about the week before the All-Ireland final is adaptability. Everyone is different; what works for one won’t work for another. That is true for several aspects of the big day. Some like looking around them during the parade while others keep their head down. Players prepare in different ways and the best managers appreciate that. There is no one size fits all approach. For Sunday, the positive for both counties is that John Kiely and Brian Cody have been through this before. Far from their first go-around.
I was like Pat Shortt’s Mikey down the back of mass in D`Unbelievables: “We said we’d have a clear run of the day. So we’d the dinner this morning at half eight.”
Get as much as you can out of the way as early as possible. Clear everything. In 2013 we did media in Páirc Uí Rinn a week before. We’d go up Saturday night for a final. I’d have the bag packed on a Wednesday. Gear washed; spares sorted. Three of everything just in case.
Avoid headaches by planning ahead. Stay in the Burlington but never go through the foyer. Get familiar with the back door. The hotel didn’t have grounds so we’d puck around on the road outside until the guards asked us to stop.
Work through the mental checklist. I’d go to the field the day before with Aidan Walsh and Lorcán McLoughlin and we’d go through the exact same routine. Strikes, touches, shot-stops. Ten shots above the right shoulder because that was the hardest save to make. If that went well so would everything else.
Before every final, there is the usual soft talk. Someone is carrying a knock. Late fitness tests and whatnot. It is an irrelevance for Kiely or Cody. Limerick don’t bend for anyone. Kilkenny will focus on Kilkenny. I’m sure both will have a plan in their head. If a bolter emerges, they will deal with it. You don’t pay heed to talk about injuries. Between the All-Ireland final and the replay against Clare, our only opposition focus was on specific problems. Countering Tony Kelly and Podge Collins. Fussing about who is fit or not is wasted energy.
🗣️ "I don't think it matters if you've 25 All-Ireland medals in your back pocket, or none. It's an All-Ireland final."@AnthonyNash6 on why there's no extra pressure on Limerick this weekend. 🟢⚪️
— The42.ie (@The42_ie) July 13, 2022
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My first year in the Cork set-up was 2006. Like Limerick, that team were in pursuit of a three-in-a-row against Kilkenny. There was never a mention of that but I’m sure deep down players were conscious of it. It’s a small incentive, nothing more. Kiely and Caroline Currid will ensure it won’t inhibit them.
The whole thing in the GAA now is ‘the process.’ From the outside looking in, just a buzzword. Inside the group, it is a trusted manual. Reassurance. This green machine rumbles on regardless of opponent or occasion.
Keeping that show on the road takes a village, as they say. People like Currid have real value this time of the year. We had Seanie McGrath and Johnny Crowley, absolute characters. Very knowledgeable men but they made sure the dressing room was a positive place to be.
An unheralded man who has a huge influence in that Limerick consistency is Sean O’Donnell. He is the lead analyst with Limerick having previously worked with Cork until 2017. Anyone who listens to the podcast will be sick of hearing me rave about him.
Stuff goes through the selectors from him. With Sean, it was always relevant stats. The stuff that wins games. Something small to aim for. He would go into massive detail on his end and still boil it down to simple stuff for us. Do this to win the game. It is like being able to tell a golfer to shoot a 69 and that will win the competition.
Score two goals. Hit 80 tackles. Reach these targets and you will succeed. Producing data that helps shape a gameplan. A great guy with an outstanding hurling brain. It’d be no surprise to see Sean become a manager one day.
‘Whoever shoots the most wins the game,’ he used to say. It sounds obvious and what about the number of wides? Limerick actually hit a surprising amount of them. But then they reset on opposition puck-outs. That is a launchpad in itself. Extra bodies back. No easy options. Break the ball and break forward. Limerick are the best counter-attacking team as well as everything else.
Look back at their biggest games this year. For all the focus on Galway’s inaccuracy, they didn’t have more shots than Limerick in the semi-final. Both teams hit 44. The Munster final? Limerick, 50. Clare, 49. Against Waterford? 44 vs 37. The perfect illustration of this came on their first day out. Cork hit just 13 wides. Limerick 21. Limerick won by 11.
Kilkenny have improved and changed tack in recent years. Now they are up against the kingpins. One team has an established gameplan, the other a developing one.
It’s not that Kilkenny aren’t capable. Paddy Deegan is an outstanding defender and tough out. His swing technique looks awkward, but I saw him up close this year. The lad can play. He is incredibly skilful. The flicks and tricks he pulls off during a warm-up would amaze you. There should be no fear of playing through the lines when you have the likes of him, Richie Reid or Michael Carey on the ball.
Right now a lot of teams are trying to do the same thing. Whatever succeeds sets the template. Can we get our centre forward to do what Cian Lynch or Tony Kelly does? Can we get our centre back to play like Declan Hannon? In 2017, Sean O’Donnell started that process with us. A lot of teams tried to establish it after Limerick’s success.
But it’s not just about structure. You pray to the hurling gods and might win the lotto, get a Gearóid Hegarty. Imagine winning it twice and being able to plant Kyle Hayes beside him? On top of their gameplan they have all the attributes. Wizards and giants.
Limerick won’t change. Will Kilkenny? If their defenders are hounded all sides, do they persist working it out or suddenly start skying ball long? Adrian Mullen might drop off back the field and he could well get on a mountain of ball, but what happens when Diarmuid Byrnes starts to become Limerick’s outlet and strike from long-range? Who breaks first?
They have shown signs of maximising this group. Puckouts around TJ, pass through Adrian Mullen, Huw Lawlor locks down the opposition’s inside threat. Play to your strengths.
The best gameplan is the one that maximises your team. Get the absolute most out of what you have. On top of that, for Kilkenny to win, they will have to throw something at Limerick that they have never seen before. That could be a tactic or a level of intensity previously unwitnessed. I can’t see anyone beating Limerick by copying Limerick.
I’ll never be you. I can try to dress like you and talk like you, but I won’t do it better than you do. Do what suits you best. Some fellas spend the week doing video analysis, others just want a few snippets. Stare at seagulls during the parade or straight at your laces.
Dinner in the evening or first thing. Whatever works best for you.
Listen to the analysis of Anthony Nash on The42 GAA Weekly, with Fintan O’Toole and Maurice Brosnan, by becoming a member.
