After 45 years, you’ve earned it, Limerick!
Hero Dowling urges Limerick to savour their slice of history
A HEART-STOPPING, eight-game odyssey ended with Limerick winning the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the first time since 1973. And goal-scoring super-sub Shane Dowling called on his county to go wild after helping his team bridge a 45-year gap.
Dowling had called for calm in the wake of a stunning semi-final cameo against Cork when he hit 1-4 but issued a very different plea after this milestone victory.
‘I’m going to say one thing,’ Dowling said on the pitch straight afterwards. ‘I stood here three weeks ago and I pleaded with the fans to allow us to focus. I now say to the fans, “go absolutely mental for the next couple of weeks”.
‘Anyone who knows me knows I’m not short of words. I just honestly can’t believe it. This is all I’ve ever wanted since I was a young fella and we eventually got there.’
And yet a day drenched in history could have very easily gone to a replay as reigning champions Galway fought back in eight dramapacked minutes of added time to come within a puck of a ball of an equaliser.
The last chance fell to Joe Canning who had been a rallying force in the second half but his
INHALE. Exhale. Just when the greatest Championship ever threatened to end in almost mundane fashion, this mystical, magical summer of hurling ended in heart-stopping drama that left pretty much everyone in a full Croke Park house catching their breath.
When Tom Morrissey robbed Gearóid McInerney and sliced his way inside, bouncing the sliotar delicately on his hurl to create the space to find the net and put Limerick 3-15 to 0-12 ahead, a humdrum sort of affair looked like it’s redeeming feature would be the historic element to their first Liam MacCarthy Cup success since 1973.
Instead, this teetered on becoming the most sorrowful mystery in the county’s legacy of modern heart-breaks. The five-minute final of 1994 was almost supplanted by what would have been known as the eight-minute final.
That’s the amount of added time referee James Owens added on – and the time it took for Galway to stage what was very nearly the comeback of the summer. Even when Limerick wobbled late on, the most prolific super sub in the game’s record, one Shane Dowling, popped up to bounce a ball low to the net, and push the gap back out to eight coming to the end of regulation time.
But in those eight madcap minutes added to the clock, Limerick’s house of cards came so close to toppling to the ground. Conor Whelan plucked Jason Flynn’s delivery from the sky to pounce for his only score of the game in the 71st minute and then Joe Canning took advantage of a 20metre free when Nickie Quaid touched the ball on the ground and thundered it into the top corner of the net for his side’s second goal. The roof nearly came off with it as the Galway support – subdued all afternoon in the midst of Limerick’s high-intensity play – suddenly found their voice.
A Limerick crossfield pass then went astray, allowing substitute Niall Burke to reduce the gap to the minimum. And still the clock showed two minutes of time to go. On an afternoon when Limerick’s dominance was undercut by 20 wides, Graeme Mulcahy showed an ice-cool nerve to split the posts and get his team back breathing again.
Showing the character of champions, Galway piled forward once more, Canning slotting a 65 to make the last Quaid puck-out do-or-die.
The afternoon quickly took on an epic feel. In the final scramble for possession, another Galway substitute, Sean Loftus, won possession and tried to break a series of Limerick tackles.
Was he fouled? Did he overcarry? Owens went for the former option and his whistle. And so, from a seemingly impossible position, Canning stood over a free from outside his own 45 metre line.
It fell short. Somehow, there was time for play to continue, Tom Condon getting his hand on the ball and bursting out. Finally, finally, the whistle blew and Limerick players could rejoice.
Cue ‘Limerick You’re A Lady’ over the PA, a Cranberries medley and Declan Hannon replacing Eamonn Grimes as the last captain to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
Long after the final whistle, the Limerick players stayed out on the pitch, as if they didn’t want the moment to end. But their lives will be different from this point, now part of the roll call of All-Ireland winners.
On a day when the team played with the pattern and purpose that has defined their season, beating hurling’s ‘Big Three’ of Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary as well as the defending champions in a recordequalling eight-match campaign, they had heroes everywhere.
Quaid’s puck-outs kept his team on the front foot Seamus Flanagan pushed the limits of his GPS monitor with a performance of such intensity that he was at the heart of Limerick’s dominance.
Kyle Hayes, a minor finalist in 2016, Under 21 winner in 2017, and now senior winner in 2018, was a
thunderous presence who hit four points from play – three in the second half – and showed a maturity beyond his 20 years.
Captain Declan Hannon outscored Canning by two points to nil from play by half-time and his reading of the play and stickwork were a marvel under pressure.
If the goal Mulcahy bundled to the net in the 16th minute was no thing of beauty, it franked Limerick’s fast-paced start and pushed them 1-5 to 0-6 ahead. But for a glut of nervous wides – five in the first five minutes – they would have been well ahead.
Mike Casey and Sean Finn had Galway’s twin inside threat of Jonathan Glynn and Conor Whelan subdued, but the truth was that Limerick’s full court press out the field cut off the supply lines, Cian Lynch and Darragh O’Donovan linking the play expertly around the middle.
David Burke pilfered a couple of points against the head and Joseph Cooney did the same, the only Galway forward to find his rhythm. No surprise then Limerick took a 1-10 to 0-9 half-time lead and pressed on.
Canning rallied his troops with two booming points from play but then Morrissey weaved his way through to find the net, pushing Limerick nine clear.
James Skehill had to leave the field after a save from Flanagan, who doubled on a Lynch pass, and just to answer a flurry of four Galway points, Shane Dowling copper-fastened his reputation by finding the net after Peter Casey robbed Adrian Tuohey of possession.
And then eight minutes went up on the board. The drama was only starting. When the dust settled, Limerick were champions.
The 45-year wait was over.