No longer on bended knee, hail new kings of hurling
In a county of true sporting integrity, Limerick’s heroes seize their moment
GREEN and white jerseys lingered long after the last whistle. They stood in stupefied clusters in the lower deck of the Hogan Stand, witnesses to history, children of the revolution, believers of a gospel that made them doubt to the last.
But joy was theirs, and Limerick supporters couldn’t bear to be separated from the place where glory was delivered to them. They eventually drifted into the night, their heads and hearts full of one of the best days they will ever live through.
The noise they made on the final whistle was primal and beautiful, the kind of joyful detonation that will ring in all our ears for years to come.
This is what it sounds like when 45 years stuffed full of frustration, of stymied ambitions, of the detritus of a hundred dreams, are split open and the pain escapes and is replaced by joy.
Life in Limerick will be a lighter phenomenon for the next few days.
The dark and mutinous Shannon will be a brighter, freer thing as it pours through a city with fresh heroes.
This is one of the most authentic sporting places in the country, a city and county happy to invest in rugby, soccer, football and hurling teams as they present themselves for inspection and in search of support.
Today, it is the hurlers that charm town and country, that bring sweetness to a town for too long stained by criminality and desperate urges.
A hurling All-Ireland doesn’t pay bills or sweep streets or stop crime. But it does this: it provides tangible, glistening evidence of integrity, of what can happen when a determined and disciplined group harness their talents under good management.
All year long, Limerick have improved under John Kiely, fusing their technical attributes to tremendous courage and an aptitude for clarity under pressure that stayed with them to the final seconds of this gripping match.
Kiely has been the inspiration, a man of imagination and intensity. At the end here, he thrust his two fists into the sky, embracing his support staff as around him his players leapt into the air and into the arms of team-mates.
A minor breach in the sturdy wall of stewards in the Hogan Stand allowed a handful of supporters to gallop across Croke Park, enjoying their few seconds of overindulgence before getting marched back to their seats, armed with an anecdote that will see them through to the end of their days.
Galway players fell in desolation, gulled into thinking this was a game they could win. They devoured Limerick’s nine-point advantage with a comeback that defied the awfulness of their play for most of the day.
Joe Canning tried a free from well in excess of 90 metres with one of the final pucks to tie the game, but Tom Condon caught it and Limerick smuggled out the threat and then it was over.
And then 45 years were no longer a sentence, only the gap between a proud county’s seventh and eighth All-Ireland wins.
Declan Hannon made a beautifully measured speech from the Hogan Stand, after GAA president John Horan measured the mood well and kept the ceremonies to a minimum.
He handed the cup to the captain, and Hannon lifted it and streamers fell towards the Croke Park pitch.
Galway people were edging their way through the throng for a drive home that will have felt long and through a night that felt suddenly long.
Autumn falls quickly in a defeated county.
‘Limerick, You’re a Lady’ soundtracked some of the celebrations on the field, a shamelessly senti- mental number that nonetheless found a willing chorus around the ground, even among the younger, self-conscious fans on Hill 16.
Anything that connected them to their home was alright by them.
The rugby season kicks off very soon, and Conor Murray, CJ Stander and other heroes will emerge again into the public realm around Limerick.
These men will be stars between now and the World Cup in 15 months’ time, but for the next few weeks and months they will contend with Kyle Hayes, Cian Lynch and Mike Casey as the darlings of the county.
Hayes’ performance was tremendous, and not just because he only turned 20 in recent weeks.
He is inexperienced but played with a courage that was more impressive even than his technical abilities.
Time and again in the second half, as Galway tightened their pressure, Hayes presented himself as an option from puck-outs, as a refuge for harried defenders desperate to puck possession clear.
Such was the quality of his display that Galway were forced to
Kiely is the inspiration, a man of imagination
This is the power of this remarkable day and game
move Gearóid McInerney, their redoubtable centre-half back. Hayes was giving him too many problems.
Lynch broke through as a 19 year old three years ago, before this day of glory could have been even guessed at.
This season, he has been an inspiration for Kiely and his players. The manager repurposed him as a centre-fielder, and his sheer athleticism means he never stops tracking and supporting.
Casey limped off injured in the 50th minute, after harrying Johnny Glynn to the margins of the match before that.
Even if he had stayed on, Galway could have launched that frantic late salvage bid, but Casey’s effort yesterday was immense.
All Stars will follow in abundance, and Limerick will deserve all the praise and plaudits that now come their way.
There will be functions and presentations and school visits and hospital trips, and everywhere they go, they will make someone’s day.
Just imagine that, knowing that when you leave a bedside or a classroom or a parish hall, you will leave behind people who are happier for having met you.
That is the power of this remarkable day, of these remarkable games. Forty-five years they have waited for this sensation in Limerick. Kiely said through many of those years, they felt like second-class citizens in the hurling world.
That time is now over. The world of hurling is reordered. Limerick rule it, and their fans can’t quite believe it.
Well, believe. This is what it feels like. It must have been worth the wait.