THE FOUR SIDES left – Limerick, Tipp, Cork and Kilkenny – will want to win the league. I can’t see any logic for a team to give it 80% with an eye towards more important showdowns next month and beyond, and I can’t see any of the managers thinking that way either.
A loss at this stage is far from cataclysmic, but the benefits of winning, getting an extra game in the league final and possibly winning silverware far outweigh the intangible gain of some dry powder or a hand not being revealed – pick your cliche.
I’m looking forward to two cracking contests. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that hurling needs two good games, because our sport has more than enough strength and beauty to withstand a lacklustre league – but I do think a couple of dingers would be timely. Just to remind ourselves that despite all of the talk about a sluggish start to the year, this is a game which can find another gear quite quickly and in the process reawaken the wider sporting public to the breathtaking spectacle we have.
The last four standing could be viewed as just a snapshot in time following a low-key campaign, but there’s an interesting symmetry to it. You have Limerick, winners of four of the past five All-Irelands, and Cork, Tipp and Kilkenny, winners of a combined 94 titles since the first final in 1888.
Empires, as we learned as kids, strike back. Even if you weren’t a Star Wars fan, you would have noticed this trend after hurling’s revolution years in the mid 90s. Offaly, Clare, Wexford, then Offaly again took the top prize from 1994-98, with Limerick heart-breakingly close too. Then Cork won in 1999, Kilkenny in 2000, Tipp in 2001. The next time a side from beyond the traditional big three won was Clare in 2013 – even if that delay was mainly down to the brilliance of Brian Cody’s Kilkenny side.
The big three are massing their forces again, all building with the benefit of talented players and sharp management teams.
Yet Limerick are the empire today. You could make the case that the pack is closing and from 2018 to now is a long time for that group to be playing at such a level – but I don’t see a relinquishing of status in the short term.
They have a singular focus to rack up as many All-Irelands as possible before they retire. It is possible some of them could retire early due to the mileage they’ve clocked, but that’s a concern for a couple of years from now.
Right now the age profile is spot on. The management team is able to extract the side’s best performances when the need is greatest. And this year they have been able to keep experienced players on their guard by giving game time to Micheál Houlihan, Cathal O’Neill, Adam English and Colin Coughlan.
These players would probably start for every other county. In Limerick, they will either force their way into the championship team or drive the incumbents to a higher level of performance. One of those good problems, as Marlo from The Wire would describe it.
I’d expect them to get the better of Tipp, but in a close game. Tipp, you could argue, have had the best league campaign if you were to measure by general perception of them starting out compared to now. They’ve had five wins out of five and the performances against Kilkenny and Waterford were noteworthy.
If they could turn over Limerick it would give the championship a shot of adrenaline before it’s begun, but I think Limerick, as they do, will be able to solve the problems presented by Liam Cahill’s side.
The game in Nowlan Park I find particularly difficult to call. Both sides can be satisfied with their winter’s work. When Kilkenny lost to Tipp last month there were soundings of discontent at how the play broke down as they tried to move the ball through the lines under pressure.
In true Kilkenny form, they’ve worked their way through this evolution in style quietly and calmly. I’ve not heard too many complaints about them being caught in a similar way since.
There seems to be a lack of dogma about it all there. When I’ve seen Kilkenny, they are inclined to play short when it’s on and then go longer when it’s the right decision. Now, there are times you’d question it from the armchair, thinking there was a better option to take – but that’s inevitable.
What’s most important is the trust invested in the players, within the greater plan.
Players have to be allowed to choose what to do. The best coaches, Paul Kinnerk and John Kiely being the standard bearers, help the players do the right thing at the right time instead of trying to play the game for them.
Kilkenny, as is perennially the case, are waiting on the full introduction of the Ballyhale contingent. In the meantime Billy Drennan from Galmoy has made the jump from U20 to senior level look routine. His scoring power and general play leave you in no doubt that he will be a feared attacker for many years to come.
Cork have gone unbeaten, a significant achievement with games against Limerick and away to Clare and Galway. They managed this while dealing with an injury list longer than they would like. And some of those injuries are healing at the right time. Players such as Robbie O’Flynn, Darragh Fizgibbon, Damien Cahalane, and Conor Lehane will be right for championship.
Patrick Horgan is ready to return, and Seamus Harnedy tweaked a hamstring against Clare but will not be sidelined for long.
Young players have impressed for Cork at different stages of the league, Brian Roche, Sean Twomey, Eoin Downey and Conor O’Callaghan.
You always get a crowd following the Cork hurlers, and I’d say a lot will travel to Kilkenny on Sunday. It’s one of those pairings with a certain magnetism.
If Kilkenny are in the mood for a more free flowing game following their cagey tussle with Waterford then they can have it here. Cork will give them a gunfight, even on soft ground. Though if Kilkenny are wary of Cork’s pace and want to make it more attritional then the Rebels have to be ready to view this as a test of their workrate and mental resolve.
Either type of match would be compelling. There’s something about Cork v Kilkenny that heightens the will to win in either team. Kilkenny were always the side we wanted to play in challenge games. It didn’t matter how low key the venue or time of year, they would go after it, sharks who can only swim in one direction.
When I first got on the Cork panel there was ill-feeling between the two teams. That’s not the case today, nor has it been for most of this generations-old rivalry. Mainly it’s been one of respect, each seeing the other as worthy adversary in the race to stack up All-Irelands.
We’re 18 years without one now, while it’s eight years for them, which will feel even longer given the riches they enjoyed this century up to 2015.
A victory for either won’t put them on pole position for the summer, and this game will become a footnote to the story of 2023 when it’s written. But that’s not the reason we play the game – for the benefit of future historians or hindsight merchants.
These matches are to be enjoyed in the here and now; 70 minutes of heightened existence that your week has built towards.
If pushed I’d say Cork will make it through to play Limerick in the final. My main prediction is that by Sunday night we’ll have had a couple of games that move the conversation from training blocks and structures to action.
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