KILLINAN END - Finals which will tell a lot

Two provincial finals ahead – one shiny and new, the other as old as the hills.

Galway’s entry to the Leinster championship was always going to be a game-changer. On Saturday evening they will throw down the gauntlet to an opponent in a Leinster Final for the ninth time in thirteen seasons. This will be their seventh time to face Kilkenny at the ultimate stage. It has become, as was assumed by rational people, the essential Leinster championship rivalry. The statistics have matured sufficiently to be scientifically respectable, and we can now say confidently that a Leinster final is more likely to be Galway v Kilkenny than not. Back in late 2008 when their entry to the championship was debated, it was opposed by Wexford, Dublin, and Laois. One wonders with hindsight what those counties make of that stance now. With the advent of the round-robin you would imagine they are content enough even if Galway’s presence is a direct hindrance. Without the maroon shadow it would be a limp enough spectacle in Leinster at times.

There’s more than the Bob O’Keefe cup at stake at Croke Park, with the reputations of both managers up for scrutiny. Cody is under some pressure locally – not that he is necessarily aware of this. Many of his decisions, approaches, tactical stubbornness, and inter-personal skills were regarded as strengths when winning. When the ball is not bouncing your way, such strengths can assume the guise of flaws. Such is the fickleness of folk.

Shefflin, of course, has chosen a tricky path – beat Kilkenny and the potential bitterness will run deeper than anywhere else. Lose to them and his status as the Messiah and Great White Hope rolled into one starts taking on water. He may indeed need a bigger boat to handle these sharks. It is worth noting that the penalty for defeat will be, most likely, a match with a relatively resurgent Cork in a quarter-final.

For Kilkenny in particular this is a daunting prospect with three defeats already under their belt in those circumstances. Admittedly they would also be facing a Cork team with three defeats behind them, but the trajectories would be very different. There might be more bounce back in Galway. A fascinating evening awaits, and that’s even before the death-stare handshake.

If the eastern final is indicative of a new order, then the southern one has heritage to beat the band. This version is perhaps the first final between these particular counties that did not come about as the result of perceived ‘shocks’ along the way. Other years such as 1955 saw Clare do the heavy-lifting beating both Cork and Tipp by a point, before Limerick stole their thunder in emphatic fashion. This was one of the real flagship victories for Limerick hurling. Never, before or since, would a Limerick Munster Final win have seemed as unlikely as this at the outset of the championship given the freefall they had endured since the start of the decade. Clare’s appearances in 1981 and 1995 against Limerick both came after unanticipated wins over Cork. Arguably both counties achieved unexpected wins over Cork and Tipp in 1994 – unexpected at the time of course, the tide of affairs was flowing their way as the following years showed.

Their first ever meeting in a Munster Final was all the way back in 1918. This one is of interest not least because it was held during a pandemic – this of the ‘Spanish Flu’ variety. This hit Ireland and schools closed, dances were cancelled and there even were ‘super-spreader events’. The Munster Final was not played until September with the All-Ireland in January 1919. This is the kind of thing that when you looked back in more innocent days looked strange and chaotic. No more can we think that.

Limerick’s 1918 All-Ireland champions had even more in common with their modern counterparts. Their captain was also their centre-back, Willie Hough of Monagea, with the wing-backs Jack Keane of Castleconnell and Dinny Lanigan who originated in Gortnahoe but hurled with Young Irelands in the city. They too formed a formidable half-back line and were no doubt the rock upon which many an opponent crashed.

Another member of that team was Dan Troy, a Newport man, who was hurling with Claughaun in the city. In those days Claughaun was a powerhouse winning four County titles in five years, so Dan Troy ploughed a very fertile furrow for several years. He was the first Newport man to win an All-Ireland senior medal in a Limerick team which went into full-time training during that championship. The results were emphatic with not only Clare being beaten but Wexford well beaten in the All-Ireland final in a year when the Model County were going for the All-Ireland double. Different times but with many parallels. Maybe the results will follow too.