Complacent Tribe were punished for amateurish display
THIS wasn’t just a great day for Limerick, it was a great day for hurling because this All-Ireland final was won in the traditional way. There were no sweepers employed in Croke Park, it was just good, hard, physical hurling. From the flag-fall, Limerick were the better team. They were fit, they were strong and they believed they could do this. That’s a remarkable thing for a bunch of young lads who were carrying the burden of 45 years of their county’s pain into their first AllIreland final. And even when Galway came back near the end, I wasn’t too worried that they were going to lose it. I felt that Limerick were always capable of snatching a point. They oozed confidence, like a team who knew their plan was going to come together. And they left everything they had on the pitch. John Kiely deserves enormous credit. He pulled off the coup of delivering the biggest prize to Limerick and he did it his own way. Even when the Na Piarsaigh lads came back, he didn’t play them. He let them earn their spot. I thought at the time, it was the wrong decision because these are All-Ireland winners who came from the second best club side in Ireland. But he has been proven right. I was at an ‘Up for the Match’ event in the Seven Sisters pub in Kildimo, home village of Kyle Hayes, last Thursday and the big question was how would Mike Casey handle Johnny Glynn? I said that night that Limerick had to make sure that Glynn didn’t get the ball, cut out the supply further out the field. And that is exactly what we saw in Croke Park. The Limerick forwards harried Galway and didn’t let them hurl. The work-rate of all the Limerick players was something else. And it was Galway, the defending champions, who panicked. At times in the first half, there wasn’t a forward inside the Limerick 20 metre line. They had all moved out the field. For a team with such experience to panic in that way was very disappointing. They rattled Galway. They upset them and they hit them hard. Diarmaid Byrnes was very comfortable all afternoon. Declan Hannon was a tower at centreback but I don’t think he even had to break sweat as there was no pressure put on him. Kyle Hayes was outstanding at centreforward. But what we saw from Galway was surrender. They were defending the All-Ireland title and they put up the white flag. They looked very ordinary and at times, they simple didn’t know what to do. There was a lack of cohesion and rhythm in their play. I was shocked by the complacency of Galway. Peter Casey did brilliantly to block down Adrian Tuohey for Shane Dowling’s goal, but he was able to run 20 yards to block him down. That should not happen in an AllIreland final. Tuohey should have cleared that ball. Even for Graeme Mulcahy’s goal, which he took well, there were three or four Galway defenders around the ball and Mulcahy still managed to get the ball into the net. It was a very amateurish and poor performance from the Tribesmen, it was as if they were waiting for it all to click into gear for them. It would have been understandable if it was Limerick who panicked. They were the young team playing in their first final. But no, it was Galway. The performance of their forwards left an awful lot to be desired. And I think the experience of the Cork semi-final in Croker, with the big crowd and atmosphere, was a big help to this Limerick team. They weren’t going up to the final as if it was a new experience. They knew what to expect. Nobody has any ownership of this Limerick team. It is a side that belongs to every club and every supporter in the county. It doesn’t belong to anyone else. This team has been put together by the underage coaches in all the same clubs in Limerick and managed expertly by John Kiely.