As the Limerick group applauded their family and friends in the Hogan Stand afterwards and they clapped back, the exchange looked like more than just an end of a championship.
Obviously, it was the conclusion of a most stunning of eras but don’t be too hasty in believing they are finished. With possibly the exception of Graeme Mulcahy who turns 35 next year, the playing group including 35-year-old Nickie Quaid should remain intact in 2025.
Much of the uncertainty will centre around John Kiely and Paul Kinnerk, especially as Kiely agreed only a one-year extension last October and hasn’t ruled out a future in politics, while Kinnerk’s coaching expertise is in high demand beyond the GAA.
The dust must settle first, though, and much as there is a wealth of appreciation in Limerick for what this group has achieved the post-mortem will be graphic when this season is parsed.
The injuries to Peter Casey and Barry Nash will be rued but in a high performance, ultra-demanding environment they may have made up on other inches. They would have had to when the targets on their backs was never as big.
In a five-in-a-row year, so much had to be on song and you can take Kiely’s word that the talk of making history “felt light” on Limerick this year but perhaps there wasn’t enough weight.
In any other season, Kyle Hayes winning a harness race in Dunmanway the weekend before an All-Ireland semi-final would have raised eyebrows. In this season where they were on the cusp of immortality, it will be viewed even more dimly.
Hayes was totemic for Limerick in Munster this year. He will go close to picking up a fifth All-Star too and Cork showed him much respect on Sunday by trying to keep the ball away from him as much as possible. But the news of his victory didn’t exactly breed the idea Limerick were completely focused.
Before their final Munster round game against Waterford in May, we wrote about how life was moving on for a lot of the players. The piece drew the ire of some county’s supporters but it was the truth. When Kiely took over in late 2016, he had boys. Now, several are fathers and husbands.
On Sunday, Kiely stressed how players have tailored their whole lives around hurling but priorities alter. Seamus Flanagan is a dad of four children under the age of nine, Cian Lynch’s girlfriend Dayna has just given birth to twins. Other players are buying or building houses, which come with their stresses.
The one common denominator between this All-Ireland semi-final defeat and the previous one in 2019 was the absence of performance coach Caroline Currid. Her association with all of Limerick’s All-Ireland glories and those of Dublin, Tipperary, and Tyrone was indelible.
Last week, Gearóid Hegarty said the highest compliment he could pay her was that “her absence hasn’t been felt because of all the brilliant work that she had done with us over the years”.
Declan Hannon didn’t so much say that Limerick had matured to the point that they didn’t need her but she had brought them to self-sufficiency. “I think if you compare the group from 2018 to now, we’re a lot older, maybe a lot more experienced, have gone through various different bits and pieces that Caroline guided us through.”
Hegarty likened her last year to a “second mother”. He and the 11 other players who started Sunday’s semi-final that also began the 2018 All-Ireland final enjoyed the full benefit of her acumen but the newcomers only had a sample of it. Her attention to detail not just in one-on-one consultations but in the messages Limerick conveyed was exceptional. It will be natural to consider her this missing link once more.
Kiely may also dwell on just how much Cork were able to push the envelope in terms of the rules of the game. On Sunday, he referenced how fast Patrick Collins put the ball back in play and the scores Declan Dalton fired over.
“You are vulnerable in that moment in time and it takes a huge amount of effort to minimise the opportunities that come from those scenarios. It’s a feature of the game that wasn’t really there before this year. This is probably a new feature to hurling.”
Just like the 65 that never was against Kilkenny five years ago, Kiely didn’t seem to complain but he had been angered by Collins’ rapid restart that precipitated Cork’s penalty goal in May. Ironically, it was a bone of contention for Pat Ryan last year too : “One area that drives me mad at times is the quick puck-out after a wide because sometime it leads to false hurling.”
As much as Kiely intimated those situations were almost impossible to prevent, Hannon in the build-up spoke of being alert to such situations. Limerick would pride themselves on having all the bases covered.
It was a season of no regrets, Kiely maintained. As he reflects more on coming close to achieving the greatest piece of hurling history, he is perfectly entitled to change his mind at a later date.
Ignoring the swelling belief in Cork following Sunday’s victory over Limerick is futile and Pat Ryan’s acceptance of it is most surely the path of least resistance.
As he rightly pointed out on Sunday, Cork have done Clare a favour in beating their bogey team. They’d like to return to being one themselves, of course, having beaten The Banner in championship five times after the 2013 All-Ireland final replay loss only to lose four of their last five SHC meetings.
Ryan has spoken before of unrealistic expectancy infiltrating the camp, this year’s championship opener against Waterford – “Look, maybe fellas bought into it,” he said last month. And despite Clare’s win in Cork in April, Ryan’s side have already been made favourites.
It would be fair to estimate Cork euros are fuelling that market but, in a county desperately seeking Liam, Ryan knows there’s only so much he can do to keep things in check. “It would be impossible to quell it down in Cork, to be honest with you,” he said, before adding, “Look, fellas are amateur men. They’re going into schools, they’re going into work, they’re going into their families. But from our point of view, look, we know the job’s not finished and that’ll be our attitude.” Organising the media event for Monday night will help. There’s only so much Ryan can control.
The passing of John O’Mahony so soon after that of his good friend Tommie Gorman compounds the sadness at the loss of one of the GAA’s great winners but gentlemen too. As a fledgling writer in 2001, O’Mahony was kind enough to provide me with a few memories about his Sigerson Cup days with Maynooth College for a university magazine on the Thursday before guiding Galway to All-Ireland glory. O’Mahony’s generosity of time and spirit will not be forgotten. May he rest in peace.
For the second weekend in a row, GAA president Jarlath Burns allowed the All-Ireland minor winning captain to make an acceptance speech.
After Tipperary’s Cathal O’Reilly took the microphone in UPMC Nowlan Park last Saturday week, Derry skipper James Sargent spoke from the rostrum in O’Neills Healy Park on Sunday.
The practice is at odds with the directive first issued 14 years ago by a national awards and presentation committee headed up by Burns. Speaking at the time, committee member, Cork’s John Arnold, said: “It came up for discussion at our committee when we were talking about pitch invasions and our committee felt the minor captain’s speech should be discontinued.
“About eight of us were present and it was unanimous. I would say it was about looking at ways of streamlining the whole day and the whole presentation end of it.”
A reminder about the protocol was recently issued by the GAA to counties. TG4 were also asked not to seek any interviews with U17 players. The policy had been adhered to until the finals in Kilkenny and Omagh.
What has prompted Burns’ change of heart will be interesting to hear and while it’s not supported in some areas of Croke Park it received the backing of Nemeton executive director Maidhcí Ó Súilleabháin who posted on X: “Isn’t it amazing that the GAA president gave the opportunity to Tipperary captain Cathal O’Reilly to give a great speech after their great win yesterday? We should be supporting these young people to flourish instead of preventing them.”
