Neither Tom Mullally nor Derek Lyng have an issue with the decision, but there’s no little irony as, in the wake of the postponement, Carlow play a game amongst themselves on the main pitch and Kilkenny train out the back.
Speaking to the media, Mullally joked that the fog might have helped his side.
“We probably could have got away with a bit of fouling around the place and things like that, the ref mightn’t have seen it,” he laughed.
What odds then that some five months later, Carlow would dig out a gutsy draw against Lyng’s side as part of a whirlwind Leinster championship, which has often been hurling’s poor relation.
The Munster championship makes compelling and regular arguments for being the jewel in the GAA’s crown. In football, there’s a particular zest for toppling the favourites in the Ulster championship, while Connacht has its moments. Down south, Munster doesn’t even feel like a duopoly anymore.
Wexford’s Conor Hearne in action against Carlow’s Niall Bolger during their Leinster SHC Round 4 clash at Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow. Photo: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
Leinster football is on life support. Memories of four-in-a-row sagas and the turn of the millennium when five counties won it in as many seasons are slipping into the distant past.
Through all of that the Leinster hurling championship has gone about its business, in a less celebrated fashion. At times, it’s even maligned. With its hotchpotch make-up that sees regular changes in format, it has shifted and evolved.
Galway have found a home in the province, as have Antrim, at last. The championship has moved from five teams to six. There was once the potential for the Leinster championship to house teams from all four provinces thanks to a bizarre Covid-enforced scenario where, had Kerry won the Joe McDonagh Cup, they would have been co-opted into Leinster the following season as well.
Henry Shefflin took up the cause for the Leinster SHC last week.
“For any of the teams involved, we knew it was going to come like that,” he told Galway Bay FM. “There was a lot of media attention at the beginning of the campaign where they were just talking about Munster.
“People were saying, ‘Ah, Leinster is going to be a foregone conclusion with two teams getting to a Leinster final’. I thought it was very disrespectful. I’m delighted to say that it has shown the strong nature of the Leinster championship.”
And while it’s undoubtedly true that Munster has produced more epic contests, the Leinster championship has produced its own plot twists.
Tom Mullally
Galway and Kilkenny were tipped to duke it out in the final for the third season in a row, but this time around there is no stand-out team, no obvious line of form.
Kilkenny are the only team in either province who are guaranteed to advance into the All-Ireland series regardless of what happens in today’s final round of games. They top the table but drew with Carlow, who themselves took a shellacking from Wexford last week.
Wexford lost in Belfast, a week before beating Galway, who face Dublin as one of three all-or-nothing games in the province. Kilkenny face Wexford, for whom victory would see them top the group and return to a Leinster final.
The result of Galway’s game with Dublin will also be significant, while in Belfast, Antrim and Carlow will battle it out for their Liam MacCarthy Cup status. The latter face the prospect of relegation in the same season as they produced one of their most significant results.
A Super Sunday awaits, the lesser-spotted Leinster championship is making its mark.
