Chin: Munster has the edge
‘Leinster teams are a little bit more physical’
HURLING has its own style wars, the new roundrobin format heightening the age-old debate about the respective merits of the Munster Championship versus its Leinster counterpart.
Last Sunday, both provincial finals took place, one after the other, the contrast there in vivid technicolour for everyone to see. In keeping with the rest of the competition, Cork versus Clare was a dizzying whirlwind of drama and high-scoring where to be a defender was to be lost at sea. After Clare raced eight points ahead — a worrying lead judging by previous rounds of the competition — Cork seemed to realise that they were defending champions and hadn’t lost a match in the province for nigh on two years. Led by the leadership of Seamus Harnedy and the sublime scoring touch of Patrick Horgan, they triumphed in a now standard Munster shoot-out that contributed a staggering five goals and 43 points, Cork winning 2-24 to Clare’s 3-19. Anyone watching at home who tuned in then to the Leinster final must have been wondering if a different sport was being broadcast. Galway versus Kilkenny was an orgy of high fielding, sweaty rucks, and bumpercar collisions, where to be a forward was to be dropped in a tank full of sharks. No umpire had to reach for a green flag. Goalkeepers Eoin Murphy and James Skehill might as well have pulled the shutters down on the goals. The players were too busy killing themselves out the field in a claustrophobic affair to have a second on the ball to get a shot off.
A game between last year’s All-Ireland champions Galway and National League champions Kilkenny finished 0-18 apiece.
Different strokes for different folks.
Afterwards, Brian Cody was buzzing like a man who knows just what kind of hurling he likes.
Wexford’s Lee Chin painted a vivid picture of the difference in styles at the Sure GAA Trivia Quiz launch. ‘There’s no really hiding the fact that I think over a lot of years the Munster Championship has been probably a little bit more, how would I say it, a little bit more attractive to watch for the fans. I think the Munster Championship and the Leinster Championship are very different.
‘In the Munster Championship most of the teams are about hurling, and just the hurling brand. Whereas I think the Leinster teams are a little bit more on the physical side while trying to mix it with hurling. I think it’s a different brand of hurling really that both provinces are playing.
‘When a Leinster team and a Munster team come together you kind of get to see both and which is able to cancel out what. I think the Munster Championship, particularly this year, was probably a little bit more attractive to watch for the fan than the Leinster Championship.’
Beauty, as Cody might remind, is in the eye of the beholder.
Munster has been like a bestin-show competition, points awarded for teams with serious pedigree and who really look the part. Leinster has been more about a test of nerve and physicality in the tackle.
‘They really went toe-to-toe and played a similar brand of hurling on the day,’ said Chin, appreciating also the finer points of Galway-Kilkenny. ‘It was great to see the high fielding, I can’t remember the last day we saw so many high balls being caught and so many 50-50 battles all around the field. It was enjoyable to watch, it almost brought you back to when the likes of Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney were playing with the high fielding.’
Wexford play Westmeath this evening in a preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final with Limerick playing Carlow in same. It will take until the make-up of the semi-finals to know which province will have the bragging rights in terms of the last four teams to be left standing.
Beat Westmeath this evening and the quarter-final pits Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford against his native Clare. ‘We were training last night and Davy never even mentioned Clare,’ said Chin during the week. ‘It was total respect to Westmeath and looking forward to the weekend.
‘We are treating the Westmeath game with serious respect, last year they ran Tipperary very close and gave them a big scare so we are not looking past it at the moment. We had a campaign in Leinster and we won 50 per cent of our games and we were disappointed with that, and that’s why we are not looking past the Westmeath game at the moment.’
He admitted that losing to Kilkenny in the last round-robin game when nine points ahead early in the second half was ‘disheartening’ and left the players ‘bitterly disappointed’.
But they have the perfect opportunity to revive their season. And roll the Leinster versus Munster debate into late summer.