KILLINAN END - Timing is everything
There is often a sense of timing in a match when a team hits the front and it looks like their day. John O’Dwyer’s goal in the 2016 final in Croke Park had that seminal feel to it – when everything that had gone before on that day was about to be redefined by what was to come. Kilkenny were beaten to the punch several times during the early stages of that struggle but yet managed through sheer tenacity and know-how to find themselves in front not long after half-time. O’Dwyer’s goal created a different narrative. Suddenly a small hard-won narrow Tipperary lead gaped out to five points and we had the type of shoot-out game which Kilkenny were not going to win.
A year later Mayo’s footballers had such a moment, or at least potentially had it, when Jason Doherty bore down on Stephen Cluxton’s goal but failed to raise a green flag. It was the kind of breakthrough score that would have put Mayo in front and surged confidence through them. Sometimes it comes with a single magic moment, other times it comes dropping slow. The latter was the case for Loughmore/Castleiney last Sunday. They chipped away, pulling back a deficit on points, and hit the front at the right time. While in the end they were forced to make it a draw you would wonder if there was a chance there that might not come again. The Blues showed grit and character to hang in when it looked as if the tide was flowing against them. They will look to give a more even performance in the replay. Only a brave or foolish man would call it with confidence.
Loughmore will do the double in style should they manage it. The modern-day kingpins in both hurling and football will require beating though Loughmore’s own football record in recent decades is stellar. They have won ten County senior football titles since their breakthrough win in 1973, a first in eighteen years. Only Commercials have bettered that record and that only by one title. Last year’s final came down to just one point between these teams so the stats could have gone either way.
Sarsfields stand on the brink of a 37th County title which would be effectively a national record at senior level in a county where the titles take a lot of winning. Should the two trophies wear green and red this club goes beyond remarkable given the resources.
To put some context on that, Dublin’s Kilmacud Crokes will aim for the double when they play St Jude’s in the Dublin senior football final. The Crokes team which beat Na Fianna after extra time in the hurling final did not have a single starter on the football team in their semi-final. Contrast that with a parish such as Loughmore picking from much the same pool of players.
Shane McGrath, recently on the radio, mentioned Loughmore and Kiladangan in the same breath and spoke about the “culture”. It’s an interesting word which is defined in one source at least as “the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society”. We might just call it “a way of life”. When such a level of excellence and immersion in the GAA is being practised on the pitch we might tend to take it as a given but we should celebrate it whatever the final outcomes on the scoreboard. Their likes will not always be ours to behold.
Notwithstanding the attractions of the Dan Breen match there are those in the county who would argue that the most significant result of the weekend was Templederry’s win over Killenaule. The trapdoor to the new grading system or grade-naming system was avoided.
The positive spin for all clubs is that when you are good enough you will go up to the top table. Maybe the name of the grade is not the be-all and end-all? Many illustrious clubs have plied their trades in lower grades and lived to fight another day. In 1980 the culture clubs of Kiladangan and Loughmore-Castleiney met in the County Intermediate final. They haven’t done too badly.
One of the issues in Tipperary is the divisions and their strength and perhaps “culture” too. Where in Ireland is there a local competition to match the North Tipperary Senior hurling championship? Since Newport’s mighty men of 25 years ago eight clubs have won this competition, all to wild celebrations. The divisional championships might be threatened ultimately if the grading structure across the County championship is followed to its logical conclusion. Some clubs can aspire to a divisional title when a County would be beyond them.
There is no reason why the two cannot co-exist. Is there not an argument to make the Senior divisional championships open to all anyway? Let all teams enter should they wish irrespective of their normal grade. The top teams in an Intermediate grade which should be ultra-competitive would be well fit to rattle any Senior divisional championship. No harm to let them at it.