Something old something new from Sars

KILLINAN END

The club championships provide fertile ground for fresh and contrasting narratives. Sometimes the ground is well-trodden. Tipperary’s County final elicited a familiar story - albeit one that had taken a seven-year break – when Thurles Sarsfields stood atop the podium once more. A convincing thirty-seventh title for the Blues coupled with their relative youth and freshness suggests that a time of opportunity lies ahead. They will be hard beaten in the coming years, notwithstanding the huge importance of longer-serving players like Paddy McCormack and Denis Maher, with nine and seven County medals respectively.

Moycarkey/Borris have threatened big things in recent years and a County final appearance was a natural next step for the team. However, on winter nights they will regret the failure to get early traction in the game and, in all truth, the deficit looked insurmountable even midway through the first half. Sarsfields’ economy and skill were in direct contrast to Moycarkey’s more physical and demanding approach. That said, their goal, which briefly revived the game, was exceptional. They will regroup and learn from a chastening experience. But the gap looked significant.

With an eye on the Munster Championship, however, there must be concern for the youth and lightness of some Sarsfields’ players. The Rossiter’s and Eoin Purcell have ball-skills to beat the band. Euan Murray has the cut of a young Tommy Dunne. However, the provincial and All-Ireland club championship is a winter sport and will bring different challenges. The longer you survive in that competition the more of a slog it becomes.

While Sars boast a record number of county titles, one of their prospective opponents in the province, Inagh-Kilnamona, occupy the opposite end of the spectrum. In the last two decades, Clare has seen quite a number of clubs break new ground and win the Canon Hamilton Cup. Ballyea, Cratloe, and Crusheen have all won their first titles and then added more. Clonlara won in 2008 after nearly a century. Two years ago, Éire Óg Ennis won after a 35 year wait. There can be little doubt that some of these breakthroughs reflect shifting demographics.

Population change in parts of East Clare is influenced by proximity to Limerick and Shannon and is likely to have implications for local hurling clubs. One of the big fish in Clare hurling, Clarecastle, is languishing (by their historical standards we might use that word) in the tier below senior, namely premier intermediate. Relegated in 2023, they will surely have their day again, but the general picture could be interpreted as a sign of the broadening of hurling strength in Clare. Titles have gone places in recent times which would raise the eyebrows of a notional visitor from the distant past.

One of the best features of the provincial championship is that it can pit clubs from vastly different backgrounds together. After a maiden county title for that combination, Inagh-Kilnamona’s first-round opponents from Cork will be laden with tradition accumulated across the generations. The county final in Cork will feature Glen Rovers against St Finbarr’s in a first final meeting since 1988. That was their sixth meeting in thirty years – the average of a final every five years would have seemed about right in those days. After almost four decades Cork followers will see this one with a renewed freshness.

The concept of freshness will be tested in the Munster Championship as well. Thurles Sarsfields will enjoy a five-week break between their county final and Munster semi-final. But this pales beside the extraordinary gap of eleven weeks from Ballygunner’s close-run county final against Fourmilewater in Waterford to their semi-final against the Limerick champions in mid-November. Presumably, seasoned campaigners like Ballygunner know what works and what doesn’t after many years prospering outside Waterford but Limerick’s champion team might sense a vulnerability unlikely to be evident later.

Tipp’s new champions face an away fixture with the winners of the Cork/Clare tie. Not since Borris-Ileigh lifted the trophy in 2019 has a Tipp team even won a match in the competition. Lady Luck has not been friendly either: Tipp’s representatives played just one home game in those seven years. It’s not a tournament that Tipp would regard as user-friendly but if conditions are reasonable, Sarsfields do have the class and slickness to be difficult opponents.

Ballygunner remain the team to beat. They have lost just three of their last twenty-four matches in Munster – Munster Finals all – against Na Piarsaigh (2017); Borris-Ileigh (2019); and Sarsfields (2024). They can be beaten but it will require an ambitious team and not one just fulfilling a fixture. To be fair to Thurles Sarsfields they have the pedigree to be ambitious. They might also take some buoyancy from the fact that the last time Ballygunner failed to reach a Munster Final back in 2016 it was because of a defeat by Thurles Sarsfields.