KILLINAN END - The day when one story ended and another was beginning

The prize next Sunday in the home of hurling glitters the same as it ever has.

The Dan Breen Cup remains the Holy Grail and every team that gets a tilt at the famous trophy has been shown by history to have a limited window during which to win it. Teams like Thurles Sarsfields and Toomevara which managed to win multiple titles across a decade or more are rare.

Even the feats of the great Roscrea team of the late 1960s and early ‘70s in winning in five in six years is extraordinary. Consider the standards set by Kilruane MacDonagh’s in the late 1970s yet they had to wait six years for a fourth title even when they were subsequently proven to be the best team in Ireland. The potential swings and fortunes in a competition based on locale is perhaps most eloquently expressed in referencing 1980. That was the year of Roscrea's last title win when Roger Ryan's late goal ended Kilruane’s reign as champions.

It book-ended Roscrea’s golden years which had been long on the promising after a remarkable run of County Minor successes in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. After the five titles that were won 1968-73 it was not unreasonable that the era got the glory of one more title. After Roscrea’s exploits, Kiladangan ran into a whirlwind at Semple Stadium when they lost the County Intermediate final by fifteen points to Loughmore/Castleiney. It marked the sort of subtle changing the guard that consistently happens at club level. Never since would Roscrea’s star rise so high, and the new team from the Mid division was to scale unprecedented heights, albeit in a slow methodical way, rather than shooting the lights out as the great peak Roscrea team did over six golden seasons.

Next Sunday, Loughmore/Castleiney will attempt to win a sixth County Senior title which would bring them level with Roscrea in the roll of honour. They are on the threshold of rarer company, and the legendary Noel McGrath is poised for a fifth County Senior medal some eighteen years after he struck six points in the winning of his first when he was just sweet sixteen. The odds on all of this in the fall of 1980 would have been attractive if long shots are your thing. Sometimes implausible scenarios do happen and such is the beauty of the club game, and the remarkable carrying of the flame in rural parishes.

The team in the blue corner fighting out of the North division brings forth a grand tradition that would hardly be overstated if they too were aiming for sixth county title. Yet such is the unforgiving reality of sport that the boys in blue are still craving a second title.

We have remarked here before that, on the face of it at least, the numerical gap between the achievements of Toomevara and Nenagh in the 1990s and beyond scarcely reflects the great rivalry that was in those years.

You have to go back to the 1980s for a decade during which Nenagh did not win a North title, and of course for those with long memories will know that's a whole different can of worms. Sunday will be the eight time since the dawn of the 1990s that Nenagh have graced County final day. Toomevara, Thurles Sarsfields, Clonoulty/Rossmore and Loughmore/Castleiney have been responsible for Éire Óg’s demise on those days. Sometimes, as with 2013 against Sunday’s opponents, a close finish has foreshadowed a long winter of discontent over what might have been. That was a day when Nenagh led late on only to be pegged back and pipped by the smallest margin.

On all known form the Mid representatives will be strong favourites. For them it is a chance to mark their time of ascendancy – which history suggests will pass – with a title retention, one of the gold standards of County champions. Being favourites is all well and good but if it counted for much maybe Drom & Inch would be lining out against Loughmore instead after their goal-fest against Moycarkey.

Three decades ago, Nenagh met another Mid Tipperary team – one with buckets of tradition but champions of their division for just the first time since 1953. Boherlahan-Dualla became the scourge of Toomevara in the mid-90s, in a reawakening of an historical hurling quarrel.

Champions Toome were beaten in the semi-final, while Éire Óg beat the previous year’s runners-up, Cashel, by a similarly narrow margin in the other semi-final.

Though there was reason for confidence, there was little to suggest a performance for the ages and a runaway win for Nenagh on the way to a maiden County title. Likewise, there was little to hint at a 30-year wait for Nenagh for another title. Tradition and history matters, but Nenagh have little to fear in that regard. They have been a constant presence on these days and have lit up many a hurling occasion in Tipp.

For the winners the outlook is promising. A bye in the first round in Munster is a welcome relief, while the semi-final will be against the newly minted Clare champions from the town of Ennis. The Clare champions will naturally be a form team but hardly have the pedigree of a Ballygunner or Na Piarsaigh. Even at Cusack Park it is a game which can be considered winnable. But first the small matter of the Dan Breen Cup.