This would be a golden era for Banner... ...if it wasn’t for Limerick
TONIGHT represents an opportunity for both Clare and Kilkenny to come out from beneath Limerick’s shadow.
Given the latter’s dominance, it is a rare opportunity that must be seized.
For all the talk of the spring league being the summer league’s poorer relation, neither Clare nor Kilkenny can afford to even think like that.
Rather, they should take the view that they are the last two teams that Limerick would have wanted to see face off against each other in a national final because the champions also recognise that these are the two closest teams to them.
The one thing neither have achieved during Limerick’s period of almost unrelenting dominance is to win something of note.
True, Kilkenny had a share of a National League title in 2021 with Galway, but a title worth sharing is also one not worth caring about.
The Cats have to go back to 2018 for their last title, while Clare’s last success came in 2016. There is enough in that alone to ensure that both will go after this. But there is an even more obvious reason why Clare should attack this with relish.
There was a lot of pointless talk about Brian Lohan’s team not wanting to meet Limerick in the final two weeks out from meeting them in the Championship — the feeling was evidently mutual given the champions noshow against Kilkenny — but Kilkenny are about as close as it comes to replicating the challenge which John Kiely’s team presents.
They are backboned by experienced players and are built on the back of a strong, uncompromising defence — one rooted in power, pure physicality and dominance of aerial ball.
Stick a green and white uniform on the Kilkenny defence and you would struggle to tell the difference.
Of course, there is also the matter of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to the Cats that left Lohan nursing a lot of regrets.
In a way that may be his strongest card.
As a result of how he set up in that game, he never gave his team the chance to truly match up against that Kilkenny defence but you suspect that won’t be the case this time around.
To be fair to Lohan, he will have parked last summer’s loss.
The only thing that matters about mistakes is that you don’t repeat them and, to his credit, he has continued to build on what he had, ensuring that the second best team in the game is an even better version of itself this year. How can I be so certain? Twelve months ago, if you were told that Clare would reach a national final in the absence of Tony Kelly and Shane O’Donnell, their two stand-out forward talents, you would have laughed at the very prospect.
But nobody is laughing now and that is because over Lohan’s reign he has continued to blood new players to the point now that when you look at the teamsheet, you can see why they have continued to thrive.
The likes of Aidan McCarthy, Mark Rodgers and, of course, the exceptional David Fitzgerald getting on target from midfield means that they have a broad scoring spread on their team that is only matched and, unsurprisingly, surpassed by Limerick.
The pity is that if Limerick had not come along at the same time, the team Lohan has built might easily deliver a golden era for Clare hurling.
It still can and if they win tonight, they will go boldly into the Munster Championship with the confidence that only genuine All-Ireland contenders know.
Of course, that will be easier said than done.
There were times when I would have questioned how Derek Lyng has set up his team, but the one thing that has always been above question is his approach to every game.
If there is a Kilkenny way, it is about always serving the game best by showing respect to every fixture and every competition.
HE has stayed true to that and while his rebuild of Kilkenny has not been as dramatic as Lohan’s with Clare, he has got the fundamentals right.
For all their talent during the Cody years, what set them apart was that you had to earn the right to play against them, steeled by a backline that had no equal.
They are getting back to those levels again although it helps when you can lean on the likes of Huw Lalor, Paddy Deegan and Mikey Butler. While he has blooded players, there is a core of experience to this Kilkenny team that is perfectly suited for playing in big games like this.
Of course, that is best summed up by the continued presence of the extraordinary TJ Reid who will go down as one of the greatest ever to play our game.
But TJ did not come back for another season for the sake of it; he came back because he believes that Kilkenny are on the brink of something.
So are Clare and tonight can be a start if they go hard at Kilkenny but do so by also being smart. That means direct ball, but played close to the turf, to serve an attacking unit that is slick and fast enough to get the scores that will see Clare pick up one national title.
If they do, it will bring them closer to another.