No fun for the neutral as Limerick dominate
HAVING SCRIBED weekly columns on and off for the bones of two decades one thing I thought I’d never be doing was writing about an All-Ireland hurling final in the depths of December.
But that’s exactly what has come to pass, and sadly Sunday’s showdown was in keeping with the year we’ve had, turning out to be something of a damp squib, rather than the Christmas cracker that we all desperately hoped for.
Taking nothing away from Limerick of course, because, as they have been all year, they were much the better side and performed with a confident swagger as they put their rivals to the sword, but sadly Waterford were simply no match for them in either the skill or the physicality stakes.
Despite there being plenty to admire in Limerick’s play, as a spectable it just didn’t cut it and was pretty much a non-event.
Even though Limerick only held a three-point advantage at the break there was always an inevitability they they were going to pull away and win comfortably.
And they did so at a canter, leaving a vacuous feeling inside, as empty as the vast Croke Park stands, for the neutrals looking on, although I’m sure Limerick supporters won’t care one jot as they captured the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the second time in three years.
There’s normally no better atmosphere than in the environs of Croker on All-Ireland day.
The fans of different persuasion mingling joyfully, the colour, the craic and the shouts of ‘hats, flags or headbands?’.
On Sunday we had to make our own colour from the comfort of our sofas and unfortunately, for the most part, it was numerous shades of grey as the Munster champions did the job in an extremely professional, efficient and effective manner.
That said for Limerick folk it was probably more a case of celebrating their fifty shades of green as their hurling heroes knocked seven shades of you know what out of an outclassed Waterford outfit.
The old romantic in me wanted the Déise to win, although the realist inside my brain knew the chances of it happening were slimmer than a hungry long-distance runner.
From the moment Tom Morrissey superbly split the posts inside the opening minute until he did likewise in injury time to register Limerick’s thirtieth point of the day the outcome wasn’t in doubt.
It was never a case of who would win the match, from the word go the question was, could Waterford keep the scoreline respectable against the green juggernaut?
In the end it was 0-30 to 0-19, not the worst hammering we’ve ever witnessed, but the feeling was
Limerick would have been able to find another couple of gears had they needed to.
As has often been the case this year, on Sunday the Shannonsiders didn’t go gung-ho in search of goals, simply because they didn’t have to. They’re more than happy to work the space for scores and pick off points at will until their sorry opposition are forced into tame submission.
It’s such a contrast from the all-conquering Kilkenny side of the last decade that would put their opponents to bed with a quick-fire
salvo of goals, but both means to an end are equally effective.
Limerick gradually grind you down with their supreme fitness, strength and awesome power. When a rival player is in possession they’ll swarm around him like bees to a honeypot and sometimes you’d be forgiven for thinking that they have more than fifteen players on the field of play.
Their work-rate, both in and out of possession, is phenomenal and they always do the simple things right, which allows them to get in shooting positions with intricate
build-up play and pick off scores with consummate ease.
The stand-out hurler of the year, Gearóid Hegarty, personifies the strength of the Limerick team and his unstoppable performance on Sunday, which yielded seven points from play, was truly special.
Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the All-Ireland final as a spectacle, or indeed the hurling championship as a whole for that matter.
However, in a year of anti-everything it’s just another anti-climax to add to the growing list.