Ballygunner success is unlikely to boost Déise

DESSIE HUTCHINSON is entitled to hope.

The Ballygunner star (below) is counting on the club’s thrilling victory last weekend to nudge Waterford closer to Limerick.

No county has come closer to the champions, and their improvement under Liam Cahill is, behind the rise of Limerick as an awesome force, the most interesting story in modern inter-county hurling.

And the nature of Ballygunner’s win, against such a vaunted opponent, will prove one of the sporting stories of the year.

But counting on club success boosting the county side is a risky business.

In the 29 years that separated Galway’s fourth and fifth championship wins, their clubs won 12 club titles. That haul was spread across six clubs and, yet, it didn’t result in Liam McCarthy Cup success.

The qualities that bring club success are rooted in the intimate might of often small communities.

Talent is a prerequisite, but it’s not the half of it.

It’s different at county level, where extended exposure to teams drawn from big, expertly-prepared squads leaves little room for error.

The particular furies that have stoked Galway’s club rivalries may have been especially relevant in their case, but that sustained flood of success might have been expected to overcome parish tensions.

That it couldn’t exposed the yawning differences between the club and county games.

Liam Cahill, one suspects, recognises as much, too.